Half of Doctors Give Obamacare D or F

By Filed under Physicians on October 7, 2014 with 3 comments

Confident DoctorsThe Physicians Foundation and Merritt Hawkins (a physician recruiting firm) have just published their biennial physicians’ survey. The survey interviews over twenty thousand physicians in all fifty states and multiple specialties:

  • Only 19 percent say they have time to see more patients.
  • 44 percent plan to take steps to reduce services or find non-clinical employment.
  • Only 35 percent describe themselves as “independent practice owners,” down from 62 percent in 2008.
  • 53 percent describe themselves as hospital or medical-group employees, up from 38 percent in 2008.

  • 24 percent do not see Medicare patients or limit the number of Medicare patients they see.
  • 46 percent gave Obamacare a D or F, while 25 percent gave it an A or B.

Any “good news” or “not awful”?

  • 29 percent would not chose medicine if they had their careers to do over, a decrease from 2012.
  • 44 percent describe their moral and feelings about the profession as positive, up from 32 percent in 2012.
  • 50 percent would recommend medicine as a career to their children, up from 40 percent in 2008.

Who knows? Maybe these physicians are ignoring the chattering classes and believe that Obamacare might be repealed.

Print Friendly, PDF & EmailPrint

Comments (3)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. bob hertz says:
    October 7, 2014 at 4:34 pm

    Interesting — but almost all of the trends toward lack of independence, corporate control, and less time for patients have been building for the last decade. (At least this is my impression from reading blogs hosted by doctors, like Kevin MD.)

    Obamacare is making nothing better but cannot be accused of starting these trends

    • John R. Graham says:
      October 8, 2014 at 8:48 am

      That is certainly my understanding. That may be why there are some moves in the positive direction, as noted at the bottom of the article.

  2. Big Truck Joe says:
    October 8, 2014 at 1:45 pm

    Drs don’t like it because it just adds another later of bureaucracy and oversight over how doctors practice medicine and does little to control costs or make it affordable as it was supposed to do. As you’ve mentioned, this has been a growing trend for a while now and it does not benefit the patient which I truly and altruistically believe are what doctors actually want in the end.