Poll: 45% of Docs Would Quit Under Obamacare

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently Investor’s Business Daily published the results of a poll that found that an astonishing 45% of doctors polled would rather quit the medical field than suffer under Obamacare.

This is in stark contrast to recent news that a majority of physicians support Obama’s healthcare “reform” policies. IBD disputes this poll and also points out that a recent L.A. Times story that trumpets the American Medical Association’s approval of the so-called public option is based on a group that only represents 18% of American doctors.

The major finds of the IBD poll are:

  • 65% of physicians opposed government healthcare expansion plans
  • 45% would consider quitting the medical filed if Obamacare passes
  • 71% said that they do not believe government can cover 47 million additional people with lower costs and higher quality of care

The only way, the critics contend, is by rationing care — giving it to some and denying it to others. That cuts against another claim by plan supporters — that care would be better.

IBD/TIPP’s finding that many doctors could leave the business suggests that such rationing could be more severe than even critics believe. Rationing is one of the drawbacks associated with government plans in countries such as Canada and the U.K. Stories about growing waiting lists for badly needed care, horror stories of care gone wrong, babies born on sidewalks, and even people dying as a result of care delayed or denied are rife.

IBD goes on to reveal the doctor deficit we already have and warns that it will get worse once Obamacare is passed.

This doctor deficit is felt keenly in other nations that already have nationalized healthcare. With government control of healthcare and the artificial pricing structure imposed thereby there is less incentive for people to chose the medical field than there is under a market oriented system.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as NewsBusters.org, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, TheRealityCheck.org, RedState.com, Human Events Magazine, AmericanDailyReview.com, and the New Media Journal, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com.

He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston

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