Doctors’ Discontent with ObamaCare

Today medicine is just another profession, and doctors have become just like everybody else: insecure, discontented and anxious about the future.

Sandeep Jauher, MD, director at Heart Failure Program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, from his book, Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2014) and from an article in the August 30-31 WSJ, “Our Ailing Health System.”

Today the WSJ published excerpts of a book by Dr. Jauher.

These excerpts included:

• In a 2008 survey, only 6% of doctors described their morale as positive.

• Eight –four percent said their incomes were constant or declining.

• Most said they didn’t have enough time to spend with patients because of paperwork,

. Nearly half said they planned to reduce the number of patients they would spend in the next three years or stop practicing altogether.

• This discontent has led to a looming shortage of doctors.

On Labor day, summer ends and fall begins.

With hateful TV ads to see which party wins.

Among the issues will be The Health Law Act,

And on health care if it has had an impact.

After Brown, Ukraine, Hamas,beheading, and ISIS,

ObamaCare may now seem to be less of a crisis,

At this painful juncture doctors know this,

With the profession something is amiss.

Doctors are no longer held in high regard.

Their high reputation has been tarred.

With blame for high costs by media reports.

Of Medicare fraud and abuse of all sorts.

A feckless and reckless health law reform,

has failed the health system to transform

Because of its many big government flaws,

It has caused doctors from practice to withdraw.

Ir has resulted in lost doctors and cancelled plans,

It has raised premiums and created benefit bans.

It has forced doctors to adopt EHR systems.

Disrupting routine relationships and rhythms,

Destroying physicians' clinical autonomies

Interfering with normal market economies,

While ignoring frivolous malpractice suits,

While licking courtroom attorneys' boots.

No wonder doctors are so discontented.

Their problems the health law has either been

By political rhetoric or facile pen been,

misrepresented,

or circumvented.