I think it's pretty obvious from the posts here that I love what I do. So when I have a chance one of my favorite things is to just talk with my patients. Lately, the most common comments I receive are about Obamacare and the childlike behavior of our government.
A very satisfied patient came in today. For years he was suffering from fatigue, eye itching, and generally just miserable. He had gone to doctors with no help. Once here I diagnosed allergies. But since he didn't have classic symptoms it took a while to convince him to do treatment. A year in to allergy shots and he's doing great.
Today was his annual visit. Just so happens he was one of the government furlough victims but fortunately he was called back to work after just one week. We were talking about the government and we both were shaking our heads. After all, we have to maintain a budget, please our customers and we are subject to feedback regarding our performance. We aren't able to just disagree and shut down businesses. We have to work!
Somehow, the folks in congress, who are elected to create and execute a budget, refuse to do the primary job they are required to perform. And this weak performance is rewarded with lifetime healthcare and a retirement program even if they only serve a single two year term. Even better, they get to gerrymander their districts so they can maximize their chance of reelection. On top of this, once they finish their service they oftentimes are hired by lobbying companies for huge salaries. Quite a deal for a group that doesn't even execute their job.
So, what does this have to do with healthcare? The second thing we talked about is whether the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, is going to affect me. For a long time I told people I just didn't know the answer. But now I do have some answers, and they are a bit unsettling.
My office has provided good quality health insurance to the doctors and the employees for over 15 years. This year we received notification that in reward of this long history of dedication due to Obamacare our premiums would INCREASE 30%. The only silver lining is that they were allowing us to renew our plan from last year with pre Obamacare mandates if we signed up this week.
Now, here is the kicker, we just received notification that due to Obamacare if we were going to be on panels to treat these newly insured patients were are to take a 30% REDUCTION in payments. Hmmm! I may not have won a Nobel prize in mathematics but something here does not add up.
So, I am now wondering if the impact on my medical practice is an increase in my insurance premiums as well as a reduction in reimbursements how will this impact other physicians in the country? Now, I know that someone out in the ether is going to tell me I should thank the Republicans in Congress who are trying to shut down Obamacare.
I have a different perspective. If the Republicans in Congress recognized they can do a great deal of positive change by not shutting down Obamacare but demanding some corrections they could make this much better for all of us. I highly doubt the President and the Democrats are going to allow this program to be shuttered but I do believe they are starting to see the warts and might be willing to make some change.
Therefore, I ask all of you to ring the bell out there and encourage some reasonable civic minded discussion on how we can get our Government to do its job. In exchange, I promise to tell some new stories about my wonderful patients. And yes, despite all the insanity I still love what I do.
