In late July, I had an appointment with my regular physician. I have been seeing him for twenty-plus years. He is the same doctor who has taken excellent care of me since I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in March of 2006.
Before my diagnosis, I may have visited him two times a year for a case of the sniffles, but diabetes made it necessary to see him every three months to insure I was managing my diabetes to prevent or reduce the complications associated with that chronic disease.
I could never have imagined ending my relationship with him.
At the conclusion of my visit, he literally broke my heart. He advised me that my last appointment ever with him would be in October of this year. He confided that ObamaCare was forcing him to end his practice because of the ways in which the new law would impact his ability to render the best possible care for his patients.
Most people assumed that the American Medical Association represented most of the doctors in this country. In fact, the AMA represents less than 20 percent of all physicians in the United States. And yet as the organization’s leadership moved more to the left, it held a near monopoly on media attention on issues pertaining to public health. No longer.
Docs4PatientCare is challenging the AMA’s stranglehold on health care matters, just as other groups once challenged the right of the left-leaning American Bar Association to determine what judges are and are not qualified for the United States Supreme Court. How Docs4PatientCare managed to barge its way into the closed-door meetings of Washington offers a lesson to other groups seeking to have a voice in their federal government.
Writing an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Hal Scherz is countering this election year ruse.
Scherz writes, “My colleagues and I at Docs4PatientCare are enlisting thousands of doctors in an unorthodox and unprecedented action. Our patients have always expected a certain standard of care from their doctors, which includes providing them with pertinent information that may affect their quality of life. Because the issue this election is so stark—literally life and death for millions of Americans in the years ahead—we are this week posting a ‘Dear Patient’ letter in our waiting rooms.”
Facing a nationwide backlash, Democratic congressional candidates have a new message for voters: We know you don't like ObamaCare, so we'll fix it.
"Despite countless protests by doctors and overwhelming public opposition—up to 60% of Americans opposed this bill—the current party in control of Congress pushed this bill through with legal bribes and Chicago style threats and is determined now to resist any 'repeal and replace' efforts. This doctor's office is non-partisan—always has been, always will be. But the fact is that every Republican voted against this bad bill while the Democratic Party leadership and the White House completely dismissed the will of the people in ruthlessly pushing through this legislation."
The letter's final lines are the most important:
"Please remember when you vote this November that unless the Democratic Party receives a strong negative message about this power grab our health care system will never be fixed and the doctor patient relationship will be ruined forever."
Scherz concludes, “America's doctors have millions of personal interactions each week with patients. We have political power. And we intend to use it by working to defeat those who have disrupted and gravely endangered the best health-care system in the world.”
1 comment:
It's just starting to give the Dems a lot of grief. This NOvember will tell .... Oh Sheeples, thanks for adding in the eye test.
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