Universidad Iberoamericana September 24, 2013 The Effects of Obamacare on Medicine 2 According to Obamacare facts "Obamacare contains more than a thousand pages of reforms to the insurance industry and health care sector in order to reduce health care costs and provide affordable health insurance for all Americans." This sounds like a great idea, right? This is the American dream, is not it? For many people, this is a great idea that they will finally be able to receive health care and take that burden off their backs. People see this as someone finally caring and listening, politics finally do something for the people, to the people. For the 44 million people who can not afford health care, this is the best reform Obama will do in his presidential period. But what Obama failed to mention in this whirlwind of Obamacare are the negative effects of Obamacare. Obamacare leaves the Medicare payment system defective in its place, leaving no solution to the perpetual problem faced by Medicare physicians, the flawed physician payment system. Doctors expected the government to find a solution to this problem, but the government did not. Doctors will now have to rely on unreliable government reimbursement for medical services they provide. Now, doctors will have to face the threat of payment cuts that make their work harder and more stressful than it already is. By 2014, doctors are facing a cut of 25 percent of payments unless Congress passes a law to stop this. Obamacare also imposes more rules, regulations and restrictions to physicians. According to Senger (2013) , " Since 2010, with few exceptions, the law prohibited physicians from referring Medicare patients to hospitals in which they have ownership. Thus, a whole class of physician-owned, specialty hospitals has been removed from competition, even though they enjoyed an undisputed record of providing high- quality patient care. The Effects of Obamacare on Medicine 3
The people of the United States are already facing a serious shortage of doctors, now getting worse because of Obamacare. According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, by 2020, the nation will need an additional 91,500 doctors to meet medical demand. According to Senger (2013), " Obamacare exacerbates this problem by further worsening physicians attitude regarding the health care system. According to a survey by The Doctors Company, the largest insurer of physician and surgeon medical liability in the nation, not only do doctors believe that Obamacare will not improve the health care system, they also anticipate that it will make the current condition worse. According to the survey, nine of 10 physicians are unwilling to recommend health care as a profession to a family member. Worse, the survey found that health care reform is motivating doctors to change their retirement time line, with 43 percent of respondents stating that they are considering retiring within the next five years as a result of the law."
According to Mangan (2013), " a patient can go up to three months without paying premiums and still not get their coverage formally dropped by an insurersbut the insurer isn't obligated to pay claims incurred during the second and third month if that person isn't paying their premiums for that time." This obviously comes with Obamacare. If a patient does not pay the premiums to their health care providers, insurance companies pay the copayment premiums; doctors are not paid by insurance. So basically, if a patient does not pay the insurance a certain amount of money, doctors are not paid and are just doing a procedure or even just a free check and if this catches on doctors will not receive payment or be paid late. This could be crucial in the shortage of doctors. Also, most doctors dont even know or are in the dark about what Obamacare is or what its about. Doctors dont know how they will be affected, the drastic measures of Obamacare or what it will do or not do for them. This could be detrimental to the medical and healthcare system because not knowing or not being informed or educated about Obamacare can bring many surprises to physicians. Also, patients rely on doctors to give The Effects of Obamacare on Medicine 4 them as much information as possible but what is going to happen if doctors arent even informed on what is happening. Doctors and healthcare go hand in hand, one cant function without the other, so not knowing about it can have negative, spiraling effects on the doctors of today. U.S. physicians are realizing that Obamacare would "would dumb down its [health care] excellence, shackle doctors, and restrict access to care for patients, while transforming health care Toward the centralized bureaucracies of Western Europe or Canada", according to the Atlas (2012). Doctors also know the deficiency of access in centralized systems, "countries where government officials themselves circumvent restrictions when their own personal care is at stake", according to Atlas (2012). Obamacare is also forcing everyone to get healthcare or pay the price. Obama does not allow people do not have health care, so that is not even an option but an obligation, it is forcing the world to get healthcare. And if you do not have health insurance, you must pay a tax penalty. Obamacare is worsening the quality of doctors and without doctors, no one can heal people if they have the flu or any illness or disease. Obama is endangering the very people that make up the health system and they know it better than anyone, which endangers all patients. In my opinion, Obama should ask doctors what they need out of the healthcare system, and what the healthcare system needs out of them, therefore coming to a conclusion everyone will agree with because without healthcare theres no doctors and without doctors theres no healthcare. Los Efectos de Obamacare Sobre los Mdicos 4 Referencias: Los Efectos de Obamacare Sobre los Mdicos 5 Senger, A. (2013, August 23). Obamacares Impact on DoctorsAn Update. Conservative Policy Research and Analysis. Retrieved September 24, 2013, from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/08/obamacares-impact-on-doctors-an- update
What is ObamaCare / What is Health Care Reform?. (n.d.). ObamaCare Facts. Retrieved September 24, 2013, from http://obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare.php