Hardly a day goes by that we don’t learn something new about the negative impacts that Obama’s health care plan is having or holds in store for the sick and elderly in America.

Speaking to the American Medical Association in Chicago on June 15, 2009, Barack Obama made the following statement: “So let me begin by saying that there are millions of Americans who are content with their health care coverage – they like their plan and they value their relationship with their doctor. And that means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what. My view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what’s broke and build on what works.”

So, what happened on the way to implementing Obamacare?

For one thing, we certainly did not get a health care plan that is acceptable to the American people. Rasmussen reports that 58% of the public want the president’s health care plan repealed.

So, did we simply lose our way? Was it deliberate, a part of the plan all along? Or, was it just legislative overkill that most legislators didn’t expect or foresee? Or, all of the above?

Whatever the case, each new step in the process of implementing Obamacaare exposes more information about the unanticipated or unintended consequences of the president’s health care plan. And, they aren’t good.

For example, a recent AP (Associated Press) headlined, “Senate fails to spare doctors from Medicare cuts,” reported that, although the Senate passed legislation to avoid a 21% cut in Medicare payments to doctors, their action was too late to prevent Medicare from implementing fee reductions for the month of June because the House was unable to act on the bill in time. The president of the American Medical Association said, “This is no way to run a major health coverage program.”

But, this situation was just the tip of the iceberg. Offering further insight to the potential disaster that is now unfolding in America’s health care system, a blogger, Joseph Scherzer, M.D., recently noted: “There is hardly a week that goes by without some new concern or demand, none of which have to do with learning about Medicine. We are caught up in a torrential whirlwind of bureaucratic regulations admixed with a flood of threats.”

Dr. Scherzer further commented: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!”, warning: “Because of government meddling in the practice of medicine and unreasonable, excessive rules, regulations and reimbursement that does not keep up with the actual cost of living, doctors nationwide are already decreasing the number of new Medicare patients they will take. Eventually, all across the country, and already in some states, there will not be enough doctors for all the baby boomers. I predict that because of the expected severe shortage of Medicare providers under Obamacare, our intrusive government will then force the doctors they are abusing to take on new Medicare patients or risk horrific fines if they refuse. And, with the appalling fines discussed below, consider how many physicians are just going to say “to hell with it” and throw in the towel and shut their doors so they won’t have to put up with government’s new socialist, terror tactics. Not only are the president and the Dems bankrupting the country and scaring off doctors, they are ensuring rationing of health care to seniors. Can you imagine what healthcare will be like for seniors in 10 years after Obamacare destroys the best health care system in the world?”

Some of the fines that Dr. Scherzer refers to range from $11,000 to $50,000 for such transgressions as making an error in Medicare billings, noting also that the government’s burden of proof is very light. In addition, the definition of “fraud” has been expanded to include “unnecessary” or “ineffective” services, or services that don’t “comply with Medicare requirements.”

Having run a hospital, I can tell you from firsthand experience that dealing with the bureaucratic overkill of Medicare and other government agencies can be enough to make many doctors decide to quit.

Put yourself in the position of your doctor, who must now practice medicine under the continuous threat of financial ruin for such simple mistakes as billing errors. Keep in mind that doctors do not actually do the billing themselves. It’s done by office staff.

The cumulative effect of all this regulation and financial risk can only result in increasing numbers of doctors giving up the practice of medicine.

Don’t be surprised if you call for an appointment to see your doctor one of these days, only to learn that he or she has retired or otherwise given up the practice of medicine.

You can count on it. And, who will be there to look after you?

© 2010 Harris R. Sherline, All Rights Reserved

Read more of Harris Sherline’s commentaries on his blog at www.opinionfest.com

During the course of the debate over the Obama administration’s health care initiative, from any perspective, that is, Republicans vs Democrats, Liberal vs Conservative, legislators vs the health care industry, pretty much everyone has used extreme hyperbole, innuendo and downright misinformation in their efforts to sway public opinion.

As the health care bill was being negotiated by members of Congress behind closed doors, accusations regarding the content of the proposed legislation captured the daily headlines, but perhaps no aspect of the debate has been more egregiously misrepresented than the role of the medical profession.

For the record, my bonfides to weigh in with an opinion about this include almost seven years as the CEO of a small hospital in the community where I live.

Doctors, in particular, have been characterized as greedy, grasping and uncaring, ready to enrich themselves at the expense of patients and the government in any way possible. The obvious purpose was to sway public opinion in support of Obama’s health care proposal.

Quoting Obama in a speech he gave during his campaign for the presidency, Tom Blumer noted in his blog (August 13, 2009): “So we are going to be taking steps, as part of reform, to deal with expanding primary care physicians and our nursing corps. On the doctors’ front, one of the things we can do is to reimburse doctors who are providing preventive care and not just the surgeon who provides care after somebody is sick…All I’m saying is let’s take the example of something like diabetes, one of — a disease that’s skyrocketing…Right now…if a family care physician works with his or her patient to help them lose weight, modify diet, monitors whether they’re taking their medications in a timely fashion, they might get reimbursed a pittance. But if that same diabetic ends up getting their foot amputated, that’s $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 — immediately the surgeon is reimbursed. Well, why not make sure that we’re also reimbursing the care that prevents the amputation, right? That will save us money.”

Blumer also reported the response of one surgeon, who said: “…in fact, Medicare pays a surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service…Three weeks ago, the President suggested that a surgeon’s decision to remove a child’s tonsils is based on the desire to make a lot of money. That remark was ill-informed and dangerous, and we were dismayed by this characterization of the work surgeons do…”

Such statements are not just unfair, they also graphically illustrate the glaring ignorance of most politicians about health care and, in this instance, specifically Obama. The idea that doctors are overpaid for the services they provide to the patients of such programs as Medicare and Medicaid (MediCal in California) is ludicrous.

In California, services to MediCal (Medicaid) patients are so grossly underpaid that most doctors no longer accept them. The last time I checked, other than the local Indian Clinic, not one doctor in the community where I live would accept them as regular patients.

Two specific examples of MediCal’s gross underpayment for services that occurred when I was running the local hospital illustrate the point: One was a general surgeon who was called in by our hospital’s emergency room (ER) for a consultation one night and billed just $50 for his service. After an extremely long delay, he received a check for only 10 cents. Thinking there had to be some mistake, he contacted MediCal and was informed that 10 cents was all his service was worth, meaning it was all they could pay. In another similar incident, a neurologist was paid just 17 cents by MediCal for an ER consultation.

In March 17, 2010 article, the Seattle Times reported that: “…Walgreens drugstores, “which operates 121 stores in the state, “won’t take any new Medicaid patients” because they are reimbursed at “less than the break-even point for 95 percent of brand-name medications.” Walgreens is the third drug store chain in the state to stop filling prescriptions for new Medicaid customers.

During the run up to the passing of Obama’s health care plan, Dick Morris noted that physicians’ fees will be slashed by 21 percent, which will add impetus to the trend of doctors who are planning to retire early because they are no longer willing to passively accept what the government decides to pay them.

Since the government determines, in its sole discretion, how much doctors and hospitals are paid for services to Medicare and Medicaid patients, the inescapable result is that health care providers invariably end up being underpaid.

© 2010 Harris R. Sherline, All Rights Reserved

Read more of Harris Sherline’s commentaries on his blog at www.opinionfest.com