What my patients say about Obamacare
Published October 27, 2016
by Fritz Butehorn, Otolaryngologist in Spartanburg, S.C, published in The Charlotte Observer, October 26, 2016.
As a private practice doctor, I usually try to steer clear of discussing politics with my patients. It’s simply too divisive of a topic, and in order to be effective at my job, I have to build bonds of trust with the people I’m treating.
But this rule is getting harder and harder to follow – especially when my patients are the ones who bring political issues up. In recent months, I’ve seen an outpouring of frustration from the men and women who come through my practice’s front doors.
They’re mostly angry about the same thing: Plummeting choices under the Affordable Care Act. This is true both in South Carolina, where I live, and in North Carolina.
My practice is one of the few in my area that accepts plans under the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as ObamaCare. This means that patients from around the region come to us for care. No matter where they come from, however, more and more patients have been describing to me their problems finding coverage under the law.
Then again, that’s what’s facing the entire state next year. As of this moment, only one insurer – Blue Cross Blue Shield – will offer insurance for ObamaCare patients in our state. Those visiting the exchange right now are learning this the hard way. South Carolina is one of only five states facing this sad predicament.
North Carolina is one of the others. Essentially the entire state has only one insurer.
This understandably upsets many patients. They want options – they want the chance to pick the plan that works best for them. Now, more than 200,000 South Carolinians won’t be able to do that. In North Carolina, nearly 550,000 people are affected.
But that’s not the only way patients are losing choices.
Even after people purchase a plan, more often than not they find their choice of physicians is extremely limited. It’s even worse when it comes to specialists such as myself – in my case, many patients have to travel for multiple hours to see me because I’m the only or the closest specialist their ObamaCare plan covers. This specific issue – the long distances patients have to travel – is one of the most frequent concerns I hear.
When patients try to use their coverage they find that they don’t have access to their doctor – or any local doctors, for that matter.
I’m hearing about these problems every week from my patients. All of their stories are different, but all of their concerns are the same. They want the freedom to choose the health care that best fits their individual needs – and under ObamaCare, that’s becoming more difficult, if not impossible.
Of course, these aren’t the only concerns they bring up. Rising premiums and sky-high deductibles often make appearances, too. But choice is far and away the most pressing issue. For my part, I can no longer avoid discussing politics and health care with my patients, because ObamaCare is directly harming their health and well-being.
October 28, 2016 at 10:43 am
Norm Kelly says:
Did SC accept the obamascare bribe? If so, what explains the lack of choice, and the increasing premiums? We were TOLD by the liars in the demon party that implementing phase 1 of socialized medicine would increase choice AND cut premiums. What we are finding is exactly what conservatives, Republicans, and Constitutionalists said: fewer choices, higher premiums, higher deductibles, government making decisions for US!
If SC accepted the bribe, how do libs/liars/socialists get away with claiming the 'disaster' in NC is ONLY because we did NOT accept the bribe? Cuz they are first and foremost libs/socialists and second they are liars. Except in the case of Hildabeast. She is first and only a liar!
'They want the freedom to choose'. Does NOT matter what follows in this part of the sentence. Freedom to choose is contrary to lib-dom, socialism, what the entire Demoncrat party stands for. Freedom from central planners is contrary to the demon scheme. And we all KNOW what libs solution to this disaster is, it's what they have already told us they will do to 'fix' the problem. Even our own Deb Ross is willing to tell us her 'solution'. It's called single payer; which is lib speak for the entire take-over of the health care industry, what's known world-wide as socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is where central planners control the entire health care industry. You can only buy the policy dictated to you by unelected officials at the central planner level. You only get the coverage central planners allow you to have. And you WILL pay whatever premiums THEY tell you to pay. And they WILL cover illegal aliens at YOUR expense. And they WILL continue to use health care coverage as a method to buy votes from illegals and low-information types. (yeah, i know, illegals don't vote. and calling them illegals is not PC. but it is true!)
When demoncrats agree with any decision coming from the Supreme Court (SCOTUS), they call it 'settled law'. As in obamascare is settled law; even though they lied through the entire process. Then again, as Hildaliar has stated, SCOTUS was wrong on the 2nd amendment. Even though SCOTUS has ruled on what the 2nd amendment means, demons don't agree with their decision, so it's not 'settled law'. When they disagree, they have no problem with trying to either find a way to write a law that gets around SCOTUS or they take a case to court that's just enough different from the original decision to allow SCOTUS to override the prior decision. Either way 'settled law' is only what demons agree with.
'because ObamaCare is directly harming their health and well-being.' As is the plan all along. By destroying the system while 'private enterprise' has any involvement in the system, demons will be able to lie to people by saying the only solution is to remove private business completely. Their idea is central planner control, take-over. The only way to accomplish this goal is to 'prove' to people that allowing private business to manage the system is what destroys it. But, what they don't want you to realize, what editorial writers as at the New & Observer don't want you to know, is that socialized medicine has it's failure built in. Just look around the world and try to find a socialist medical system that actually provides good care to citizens. At a reasonable cost. With reasonable choice. I say 'try' cuz you can't do it. Yes, it's a challenge. One that you WILL fail at. But it sure would be fun if some lib, low-information, Hildaliar voter took the time to educate themselves. Being able to talk with them afterwards, seeing what they post on a blog afterwards, would truly be fun and interesting. It's always encouraging when someone who used to be duped comes to the realization that they were lied to, they were misled, their eyes are now open. There are too few of us; we want all of you to join us in the educated world, the knowledgeable world, the world of conservatives, the world of Constitutionalists. It's hard to overcome what you've believed your entire life, hard to overcome the lies you've been told, to be willing to put aside the vote-buying schemes, but you do have it within you to become educated. Please join us. Just do it before Nov 8!
