California Doctors Come Out Against ObamaCare

Remember this lame photo op at the White House back in early October? That was the day Obama brought in a hand-picked group of doctors who support him and played make believe that all doctors support his plan to annex one-sixth of the nation's economy. Of course the fact they were part of a group called Doctors for Obama was largely ignored. At the time Obama declared:

“Nobody has more credibility with the American people on this than you do.”

As it now turns out it sure doesn't appear that many doctors support the current plan that will cost the taxpayers upwards of at least $2.5 trillion.

Well, today we discover the largest doctor's group in the country's largest state have come out in opposition to this catastrophic boondoggle.

The state's largest doctors group is opposing healthcare legislation being debated in the U.S. Senate this week, saying it would increase local healthcare costs and restrict access to care for elderly and low-income patients.

That's right, it will most affect the old and the poor.

How cruel. How heartless.

Mr. President, do they still have the same level of credibility with the American people?

The California Medical Assn. represents more than 35,000 physicians, making it the second-largest state medical group in the country after Texas.

Its executive committee met last week to discuss the Senate legislation proposed last month by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), also known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Association leaders plan to announce their opposition later this week before a vote is taken in the Senate, spokesman Andrew LaMar told The Times.

They join a handful of other state medical associations that have opposed the bill in recent weeks, including those in Florida, Georgia and Texas.

So we now have the two largest state groups in the nation opposing this monstrosity, not to mention a majority of the population.

And they're being ignored in Washington, even though they do support healthcare reform. Just not this mess.

"The Senate bill came so short that we could not support it, even though we solidly support healthcare reform," said Dr. Dev GnanaDev, medical director at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in San Bernardino, who also serves on the group's executive committee.

Doctors are concerned that the Senate bill would shift Medicare funding from urban to rural areas, shift responsibility for Medicare oversight away from Congress by creating an independent Medicare commission and decrease Medicare reimbursement rates in the long term.

Medicare reimbursements would decrease 40% in coming years under the Senate bill, LaMar said. California doctors already contend with some of the lowest MediCal reimbursement rates in the nation, and although those would not change under the Senate bill, the pool of people eligible for coverage would increase, he said. Only about a third of California doctors currently accept MediCal, and GnanaDev said that would probably decrease under the Senate plan.

Healthcare legislation passed by the House would raise Medicare reimbursement rates to what LaMar said the association considers "a much more reasonable scale."

However, the association has not endorsed the House bill, which was backed by doctors last month at the national convention of the American Medical Assn. in Houston. The AMA has not taken a position on the Senate bill, although it sent a letter to Reid on Tuesday noting that it opposes the same provisions that California doctors cited, among others.

How long until the White House declares them selfish and greedy?

H/T Nathan.