The Effects of Obamacare on Medicine

Los Efectos de Obamacare Sobre los Médicos

The Effects of Obamacare on Medicine

















Sofia Sued
14-8048
Professor Ofelia Berrido




















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.’
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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 insurers—but
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 don’t even know or are in the dark about what Obamacare is
or what it’s about. Doctors don’t 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 aren’t even
informed on what is happening. Doctors and healthcare go hand in hand, one can’t
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 there’s no doctors and without doctors there’s no healthcare.
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Referencias:
Los Efectos de Obamacare Sobre los Médicos 5
Senger, A. (2013, August 23). Obamacare’s Impact on Doctors—An
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