A Summary of Doctor Surveys

The supply of doctors will dwindle as demand for services reaches an all-time high. Fewer of those in private practice are taking patients on Medicare, and even fewer can afford to see the millions of new patients likely to be enrolled in Medicaid.

Grace-Marie Turner,  “Critical Condition,” National Review Online, July 30, 2012

August 1, 2012 -  August is here, and the presidential campaign has begun in earnest.  You will hear much about the repeal replacement, or retention of Obamacare.  Among doctors, a central issue will be whether to jump overboard from the Medicare and Medicaid ships. 

Here, Grace-Marie Turner, president and founder of the Galen Institute, describes what she sees happening if Democrats and President Obama retain control,  I reprint portions of her blog because she neatly summarize a few key surveys of what doctors are likely to do under Obamacare should it go forward.

“In truth, prospects are bleak that you will be able to keep your doctor and even bleaker that there will be enough doctors to meet demand under Obamacare.”

“The health overhaul law expands health insurance to millions more people without significantly increasing the number of physicians or other providers. And Obamacare has exacerbated the physician shortage because many are considering leaving the practice of medicine altogether rather than practice under the dictates of Washington bureaucracies.”

“An Investor’s Business Daily/TIPP survey conducted in September of 2009 found that 45 percent of doctors said they “would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement” if the health law stands.”

“More than 800,000 doctors were practicing in 2006, according to government data. Projecting the poll’s finding onto that population means that 360,000 doctors would consider quitting!”

“And even without a mass exodus, the Association of American Medical Colleges envisions a shortage of about 160,000 doctors by 2025.”

“The greatest tragedy of Obamacare may be losing prematurely a generation of the most highly-trained, skilled physicians in history to a health overhaul law that the American people did everything they could to stop.”

“Physicians say they simply won’t practice under Obamacare rules that strip away much of their autonomy, drown them in bureaucracy, and leave them even more exposed to lawsuits.”

“By increasing demand for care without a comparable increase in the supply of doctors to treat the additional infusion of patients, the law will exacerbate the current physician shortage, as the New York Times reported on Sunday.

“In the Inland Empire, an economically depressed region in Southern California, President Obama’s health care law is expected to extend insurance coverage to more than 300,000 people by 2014,” the Times reports.

“But coverage will not necessarily translate into care: Local health experts doubt there will be enough doctors to meet the area’s needs. There are not enough now. Other places around the country, including the Mississippi Delta, Detroit and suburban Phoenix, face similar problems,” according to the article.”

“Shortly after the law was passed, an April 2010 survey of physicians, conducted by Athena Health and Sermo, found that 79 percent of physicians were less optimistic about the future of medicine; 66 percent said they would consider dropping out of government health programs; and 53 percent would consider opting out of insurance altogether.”

“In August of 2010, The Physicians Foundation completed another major survey of doctors and found that:

• 67% of doctors had a “somewhat” or “very” negative initial reaction to the new law
• 74% said they would take steps to change their medical practice over the next one to three years
• 60% of these doctors said that the new law will force them to close or restrict certain categories of patients: 93% will stop seeing or restrict the number of Medicaid patients they see, and 87% will close or restrict their Medicare practice.
• Ominously, 89% of physicians said that they believed that the survival of the traditional model of independent private medical practice is threatened. In fact, hospitals already own more than half of medical practices, and that unwelcome trend will be accelerated under the new health law.”

“Doctors are quietly making their plans now to restructure their practices, retire early, get another job, or otherwise protect themselves from the coming regulatory avalanche and payment cuts. “

“Ultimately, the consequences of the health overhaul law will be passed along to patients through restricted access, long waits for appointments, and rationed care. It’s up to the voters.”

Tweet:  Doctors may  stop seeing Medicare ot Medicaid patients,  retire, get another job,  to protect themselves from Obamacare cuts and regulations.