Survey - 83 percent of US doctors have considered abandoning their practices over Obamacare

Sunday, October 06, 2013 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: doctors, Obamacare, national survey

(NaturalNews) The implications of the so-called Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, are apparently so drastic that as many as 83 percent of private physicians have considered calling it quits. This is according to a new survey recently released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association (DPMA), a nationwide physicians group dedicated to maintaining and protecting individualized care for all patients.

The survey, which included nearly 700 doctors from at least 45 U.S. states, revealed that most doctors and care providers are incensed by the nationalization of medicine, and believe that the transition from privatized care to government-run care will further erode the quality of healthcare in America. Not only will demand for patient care increase dramatically as a result of the Affordable Care Act, but pay for doctors will also decrease, which will drive many practices out of business.

"Doctors clearly understand what Washington does not -- that a piece of paper that says you are 'covered' by insurance or 'enrolled' in Medicare or Medicaid does not translate to actual medical care when doctors can't afford to see patients at the low-ball payments, and patients have to jump through government and insurance company bureaucratic hoops," said DPMA co-founder Kathryn Serkes to The Daily Caller about the survey results.

Out of the 36,000 doctors surveyed, only 4.3 percent actually responded, according to DPMA. The vast majority of those who responded work in solo or small group practices, and are office-based rather than hospital-based, representing a true cross-section of America's most personalized physicians. And more than three-quarters of respondents are considered to be mid-career, meaning they have been practicing for between 11 and 30 years.

A whopping 65 percent of respondents indicated that their existing problems are a result of too much government involvement, and that more government involvement in the form of the Affordable Care Act will make things work. 95 percent of doctors also said that private practice is already suffering as a result of "corporate medicine," which will only get progressively worse under the Affordable Care Act.

Interestingly, nearly 75 percent of the doctors surveyed said less government, rather than more government, would help fix the existing problems with the medical system. These problems presumably include things like government oppression against so-called alternative and non-mainstream medical treatments and procedures, as well as the persistent dilemma of "too many hands in the financial cookie jar," which raises medical costs for everyone.

You can view the complete results of the DPMA survey here: http://www.doctorsandpatients.org

Sources for this article include:

http://www.doctorsandpatients.org

http://dailycaller.com

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA606.html