A Dystopian Future in Disguise:
What to expect from ObamaCare

ObamaCare, it sounds comforting. Doesn’t it? But ask yourself, “How much comfort can I afford?” Then you think about it some more and start feeling even more disgruntled. Aren’t these the same guys or bureaucrats that are running Medicaid and Medicare? Boy that’s a glimpse at success, isn’t it? Does it still sound comforting, I’ll bet it is starting to sound a little worrisome, isn’t it? If you are really starting to get worried, read Michael Smith’s article below to see why you should be very concerned about Obamacare.

A Dystopian Future in Disguise:
What to expect from ObamaCare

By Michael S. Smith II

Dystopian is perhaps an ironic term to use when forecasting the fruits ObamaCare will yield for the American society. But because "hope" will not morph his plan into a viable solution from which either Americans in need of medical care or members of America's medical community will derive any long-term benefits, dystopian is a fitting descriptor. This is particularly the case when considering how it will apply to future descriptions of what Americans will endure when seeking medical care.

In their rush to "fix" America's healthcare system, Obama and his comrades in the Congress seem to be overlooking some very basic factors. Chief among them: In a scenario that is rather reflective of so-called Malthusian catastrophes or checks, the vastly aging American populace's ever growing demands for medical care is already outpacing the medical community's ability to produce the numbers of doctors needed to adequately meet demands for services provided by our nation's MDs. Furthermore, President Obama's proposed policies will only exacerbate matters by driving down compensation rates for most of America's physicians.

During his June 23 press conference, President Obama conceded his plan will reduce incentives for employers to continue providing their employees access to private medical insurance. Looking past what this will mean for the private medical insurance marketplace, here's why that's so problematic: When confronted by a swath of "unexpected" seekers of both Medicare and Medicaid benefits, Medicare and Medicaid will further cut their already declining compensation rates for doctors treating their programs' beneficiaries, leaving doctors wondering why it makes sense for them to do business with recipients of those "benefits."

As doctors increasingly become disinclined to do business with Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, at America's hospitals and public health clinics the lines of individuals who will become dependents of Medicare and Medicaid will grow longer than anyone -- but notably the patients and the doctors -- will be willing to accept.

Dually, as the financial incentives for attaining medical degrees are diminished as drastically as they inevitably will be by the president's plans, "the best and the brightest" prospective candidates for MD programs will deem fields other than medicine more appealing. Or, realizing their skills are salable at significantly higher rates in other markets, new MDs will emigrate to other nations rather than remaining in the U.S. to become "bureauctors."

The latter of the afore scenarios will become especially prevalent with more than just new MDs if ObamaCare forces doctors to become agents of the federal government. (This prospect makes one wonder if Michael Moore is helping the administration craft its healthcare policies.)

If that happens, wealthy Americans who now presume this is a middle class issue will wake up to the fact that they should have spoken out against Obama's proposals, too.

Members of Congress should look no further than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' medical programs when seeking evidence that Americans, when given the chance to decide, prefer to keep the government out of their efforts to access the medical care they need. While millions of Americans enjoy access to the VA's medical facilities, the majority of those who can access medical care elsewhere seek to do just that.

Why? Having been in the service of our government they understand better than anyone the implicit meanings of terms like "Good enough for government work." They understand how much greener the grass truly is at America's private medical offices and hospitals.

Today, there are not enough doctors available to deal with the medical demands of the boomer generation, and training doctors is not as easy to accomplish as preparing future plumbers to enter the workforce at technical colleges. When it comes to the number of doctors willing to provide medical care to the "publicly insured," the number will only shrink if President Obama's plan is enacted by the Congress.

When it comes to "fixing" America's healthcare system, the mad-dash-to-the-finish-line approach employed by politicians who recently ratified a federal budget proposal they'd not even taken time to read is the last thing Americans need -- aside from, of course, ObamaCare.

Copyright © 2009 by Michael S. Smith II and The Free Enterprise Foundation. All rights reserved

About the author: Mr. Smith is executive editor of The Ethical Standard: Official Publication of The Free Enterprise Foundation. He is also a contributing editor for SCHotline , a Columbia, S.C.-based conservative-oriented news aggregator site.

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Go to Our Youth Speaks from ObamaCare