One half of all physicians believe that Obamacare will negatively affect their income this year, and seventy-five percent believe that it won’t lower costs. These numbers have lead to seventy percent of all physicians being pessimistic about the future of medicine in general.
These figures fly in the face of the AMA’s, (American Medical Association,) initial support of the law. It is important to remember that less than one in five physicians, (seventeen percent,) are enrolled in the AMA, a number which continues to drop from the twenty-nine percent membership rate in 2009.
The reality of passing Obamacare is starting to sink in with doctors around the country. The cost of implementing all the new regulations forced upon them are coming to fruition. More regulations coupled with more patients with low paying federal health insurance, lower reimbursement from the government, and the higher costs associated with all of these changes, has resulted in many doctors considering alternative professions.
Obamacare is a huge drain on society, and things will only get much worse in 2014 when the law is in full swing. Instead of incentivising more young adults to get into the field of medicine to handle the millions more in the health care system, Obamacare gives these individuals every reason in the world to look elsewhere for the American dream.
Michael Higgins