On the one-year anniversary of Obamacare, the problems of the health care law remain a constant frustration for doctors around the country. Many go about their lives feeling frustrated, but a few brave doctors are speaking out.
Dr. Martha Boone of Atlanta is one of them. She’ll speak on a panel at The Heritage Foundation today at noon about the difficulties doctors face from Obamacare and other entitlement programs. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), a medical doctor, will join her along with Gurjeet Guram, a student at Harvard Medical School. Click to watch it .
In an interview with Heritage last year, Boone explained how she was forced cut her salary by 32 percent and move to a less expensive, older office building. If she had not made these sacrifices, Boone would have been forced to refuse Medicare patients or lay off one of her employees.
Government has made life more challenging for Boone and other doctors who own their businesses. The Atlanta urologist has two employees dedicated almost exclusively to battling Medicare for the reimbursement money.
“I absolutely detest that part of my life,” Boone said about the constant fight with government over payment problem.
Rather than sit on the sidelines, Boone is speaking out. She regularly converses with her patients about the impact of Obamacare and has even appeared on national television to make her case.
“I never imagined that I would have to become politically active to take good care of my patients,” Boone added. “That’s added a whole other element to the life of being a doctor.”
As government seeps further into the health industry, Boone is a witness to the decline of patient care.
“In one day, I had three patients in the office whose primary care cardiologists had stopped taking Medicare, and all three of these patients had to go to the emergency room,” Boone said. “This is absolutely a travesty.”
The economic burden that is causing doctors to turn patients away is also pinching the pool of doctors at both ends. Boone personally knows both physicians who are retiring early and students who were deterred from medical school by the new economic realities of health care.
When asked why she persists despite the road blocks, Boone put it this way: “Every day when I get in my car and go home, I can think of at least five to 10 people that I have really helped. So many people don’t get that out of their job.”
