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Obamacare Effect: Doctors Switching To No-Insurance Model

On Tuesday, Dr. Michael Ciampi of Newton, Massachusetts appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss the effects of Affordable Care Act on his practice. He notes many doctors have stopped accepting health insurance, and have adopted a ‘pay as you go’ method.

The Weekly Standard’s Tony Mecia recently wrote on this growing trend in the age of Obamacare:

There’s little doubt that the new health care law is causing concern among doctors. And the frustration runs deeper than just occasional anecdotes, such as the Orlando urologist who posted a flier on his door in late March that read: "If you voted for Obama .  .  . seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your health care begin right now, not in four years." The doctor’s story was linked on the Drudge Report, he appeared on Fox News, and a Facebook page devoted to him has more than 3,000 fans.

While those stories are interesting, more troubling is a survey reported in March in the New England Journal of Medicine that found that 29 percent of the nearly 1,200 doctors interviewed said they would quit the profession or retire early if the health care reform bill passed. Add to that a reported shortage of doctors, retiring Baby Boomers, and 30 million new patients who formerly lacked insurance, and the result could be disastrous.