Obamacare and Doctors

With the Baby Boomer population coming of age, there is a massive exodus out of the workplace. One critical shortage that could not have come at a worse time is the decreasing number of doctors. The American Association of Medical Colleges estimates the U.S. faces a shortage of 91,500 physicians by 2020. Over that same period of time, more people will be requesting medical services which will undoubtedly create further inefficiencies in our health care system.

Two major culprits of this problem are Medicare and Medicaid. While Medicare is a federal government-sponsored healthcare program primarily for seniors, Medicaid is for low-income families and is managed by both the state and federal governments. Medicare and Medicaid differ in terms of who they cover, and how they are funded and governed.

Real Doctors are feeling the pain

Dr. Martha Boone, a Urologist in Atlanta, is concerned about both of these inefficient entities. She has endured major financial sacrifices to avoid layoffs. She spends resources on two employees whose primary responsibility is to bill Medicare and other Insurance carriers to get paid for work she has already done. Also, she had to stop taking Medicaid because after 18 months she had to give up pursuing them for payments that they never paid.

The consequence of this growing trend is that many people on Medicaid now have to go to the emergency room and Dr. Boone is having trouble maintaining her practice. She states, “If a person who has $350,000 worth of education and 17 diplomas can’t afford a 1500 square office, what does that tell young people in our country about education?”

More patients, less  profit

One major concern that doctors in general have is a decrease in their revenue. One would think that January 14 couldn’t come soon enough for those doctors who struggle financially. Logic would suggest that more people to serve in the healthcare system would equate to a higher income. This logic is flawed because there is a projected reduction of $718 billion to Medicare, which is based on reduced reimbursement with the idea of reducing fraudulent behavior like billing for services never rendered or billing for a higher-priced treatment than the healthcare provider actually conducted. Honest doctors, and ultimately patients will have to adjust to substandard healthcare.

More people + less time = danger

As the number of patients increase, while at the same time, the number of doctors decrease, patients and doctors will have considerably less time to interact with each other. One unintended outcome of providing universal access to healthcare and require health insurance will be a connected negative string of events: less time with the doctor, less time to really understand the ailment(s), more incorrect tests, more overlooked tests, inaccurate diagnoses, and ultimately more malpractice suits.

One may begin to wonder why anyone would want to become a doctor or why someone who had been practicing for enough years to live a decent retirement would even have a desire for the medical profession. High prestige is saving the medical profession from becoming as potentially scarce commodity. In order to maintain the dignity of the profession, it is imperative that the private sector, states, and the federal government work together to maintain the dignity of the people who sacrificed time and money to pursue a dream that was supposed to be realized.