-By Warner Todd Huston
On Monday the Obama administration featured a gaggle of white-coated doctors rallying in support of Obamacare but it appears that Obama’s team was a bit out of its depth in arranging the handpicked cadre of physicians. As it happened, the president’s advance team accidentally invited a doctor that has long been opposed to Obamacare.
Obama’s office contacted Doctor Eric Novack to appear beside him in Washington during his rally/photo op even though Novack is a vocal opponent of the president’s policy prescriptions.
“They had 16 hours to Google me, but I guess no one bothered,” Dr. Novack told Kathryn Serkes, Director of Policy and Public Affairs for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) in a video interview available at TakeBackMedicine.com.
Due to his stance against the president’s policy ideas, Dr. Novack turned down this invitation to go to the White House in support of the president but he wonders what this invitation says about the other doctors that did attend.
Dr. Novack says that it was very tempting to accept the “once-in-a-lifetime” invitation, but in the end, he had to say no. But it also makes him question whether the doctors who will be there today actually support the President, or even understand all of the details of the bills.
Doctor Novack, who once co-authored a paper for the conservative Goldwater Institute, is an Orthopedic Surgeon from Arizona.
According the the AAPS, Obama’s claim that Doctors overwhelmingly supports his extreme policy ideas is a false one.
Serkes also rebuts the White House claims that doctors overwhelmingly support the public plan. A recent poll on the AAPS web site, TakeBackMedicine.com shows that 93% of the doctors polled are even more adamantly against the President’s plans after his national address to Congress and the country on Sept. 9.
Further, pre-publication results of an AAPS survey show that about 80% of doctors would refuse to VOLUNTARILY take part in a public plan.
It seems obvious that Obama is flying by the seat of his pants with this whole thing and that is a dangerous thing, indeed.
On a related story, Representative Tom Price (R, Ga.) told The Hill that Obama’s handpicked doctors did not accurately represent physician’s views.
“I’m kind of surprised that a hand-picked group of physicians that were brought to the White House today were applauding a government takeover of healthcare,” Price said during a conference call organized by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
“I would suggest that a real cross-section of doctors would not be applauding a government takeover of healthcare,” he added.
And, as is evident by the doctors of TakeBackMedicine.com, not all doctors are lining up behind Obamacare.
(Cross posted at HealthcareHorseRace.com.)
____________
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
Fair Use: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in my efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. I believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site/blog for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.