Kudos to Michelle Malkin for her
enlightening post on the ongoing mess that is Obamacare, which begins by quoting a panel of liberals scoffing at her warnings about America's doctor shortage crisis. But beyond the insular precincts of liberal conventional wisdom, the nation's healthcare law is no laughing matter -- as the
patients of California will discover soon enough:
As the state moves to expand healthcare coverage to millions of Californians under President Obama's healthcare law, it faces a major obstacle: There aren't enough doctors to treat a crush of newly insured patients. Some lawmakers want to fill the gap by redefining who can provide healthcare. They are working on proposals that would allow physician assistants to treat more patients and nurse practitioners to set up independent practices. Pharmacists and optometrists could act as primary care providers, diagnosing and managing some chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and high-blood pressure...Doctors say giving non-physicians more authority and autonomy could jeopardize patient safety. It could also drive up costs, because those workers, who have less medical education and training, tend to order more tests and prescribe more antibiotics, they said.
This is classic leftism: Create or exacerbate a problem by intrusive and expensive government action, then "fix" the mess with additional government decrees. In this case, the big government solution involves defining "doctors" down -- and it may actually
increase costs, to say nothing of putting patients at risk. So Californians who show up to see the doctor may have no choice but to see someone without a medical degree. But at least they're covered, right? Thanks, Obamacare! The Golden State, currently
drowning in debt, is already grappling with an acute doctor shortage:
Currently, just 16 of California's 58 counties have the federal government's recommended supply of primary care physicians, with the Inland Empire and the San Joaquin Valley facing the worst shortages. In addition, nearly 30% of the state's doctors are nearing retirement age, the highest percentage in the nation, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges.
Surveys have shown that physicians nationwide are
retiring early and shuttering their practices in advance of Obamacare's full implementation, and the percentage of doctors who have their own practice
is cratering. The
Washington Times profiles some of the doctors who are bidding a premature adieu to their chosen profession:
After 25 years of practicing medicine, Dr. Tamzin Rosenwasser packed in her dermatology practice in 2011, barely a year after the passage of President Obama’s health care initiative. The timing wasn’t coincidental. “I have interrupted practicing medicine because of Obamacare,” said Dr. Rosenwasser. “I’d read the bill. I was conversant with what had already happened with Medicaid, and I didn’t want to go down that road with Obamacare.” The Affordable Care Act isn’t scheduled to be fully implemented until next year, but some doctors already are viewing it as dead on arrival. The medical rumor mill is abuzz with stories about physicians girding for Mr. Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement by limiting their exposure to Medicare and Medicaid, selling their practices, converting to fee-for-service approaches, or even retiring from medicine altogether. “Every single day, people are talking about retiring early, getting out of clinical medicine, or going into hospital administration, where you don’t have to think about patient care anymore,” said Dr. Richard Armstrong, a Michigan surgeon...
To Cope With Obamacare CA Redefines Who a Doctor Is
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