78% of physicians polled in a recent survey said that the public option would negatively impact the quality of health care in this country.
Patients First reported:
Sermo.com, an online community for physicians, surveyed 2,566 U.S. Physicians on public options, co-ops and how health care reform might impact care they provide their patients. The results? Physicians overwhelmingly disagree with the current reforms on the table.
When asked if either of the alternatives to private insurance being discussed–a public option and a co-op option–address the real sources of spiraling health care costs, 92 percent of the 2,566 physicians said no. These medical professionals are not content to do nothing; 62 percent said that reforming the health insurance industry is critically important to any effort to reform the current health care system.
Seventy-eight percent believe that a public option would negatively impact the quality of care they can provide their patients. Yesterday’s vote against a public option in the Senate committee may be a temporary setback for the President’s plan. Co-ops, however, are a stepping stone to a public option and are being considered as an alternative; this idea also fails to garner physician support. Sixty-eight percent of the physicians surveyed say a co-op plan would have similarly negative results. Additionally, if health care reform “as currently envisioned” is passed, 47 percent of those surveyed said they would stop accepting insurance or Medicare/Medicaid.
