Oh, the howling. A doctor unhappy with the passage of Obamacare put up a note stating, “If you voted for Obama—seek urological care elsewhere. Changes to your health care begin right now. Not in four years.”
Some are outraged, including a demagogue Congressman who once said Republican House Members wanted patients to “die quickly.” From the FNN story:
An outspoken U.S. congressman is planning to file a complaint against the central Florida urologist who posted a sign on his office door warning supporters of President Obama to find a different doctor.
A spokesman for Rep. Alan Grayson, who angered Republicans last year when he said they wanted sick Americans to “die quickly,” told FoxNews.com that Florida Democrat is helping a constituent who was affected by the sign to file a complaint next week with the proper authorities. Grayson will also file additional complaints with all relevant boards or agencies, Grayson spokesman Todd Jurkowski said.
Now, if the doctor were really refusing to treat Obama voters, it would be outrageous. But, of course, he isn’t. From the Orlando Sentinel story:
Cassell told the Orlando Sentinel that he has not refused to treat any patient for his or her political views and does not quiz patients about their politics, but he also does not plan to take the sign down. “I have plenty of Obama supporters in my patient base and we have a lot of political discussions. I’m not cutting anybody out of their care. I’m not refusing care on the basis of their political beliefs,” he reiterated in an exchange with Cavuto. “I hope that more and more Obama supporters come through to find out what all the fuss is about because I think we have to do something about this.”
Seems like just a little exercise in the old First Amendment to me. Those who are screaming and yelling merely gave the doctor’s modest individual advocacy a big boost. They should have ignored it. By making a federal case out of the note, they just keep Obamacare in the news, and elevate a physician as a key opponent—neither of which is likely to help POTUS’s or the law’s already poor poll numbers.
Of course, the real problem with Obamacare will not be doctors writing politically provocative notes. Unless we walk back substantial parts of the new law, it might not just be protest signs on office doors but doctors voting with their feet and either getting out of medicine altogether or transforming to a purely non insurance fee for service practice—the kind of thing we have begun to see already with Medicare and Medicaid.
