Survey: Obamacare Leaving Doctors Pessimistic About Future

Most doctors in the United States believe their profession's future may be in jeopardy as it loses clinical autonomy and compensation through Obamacare and other medical programs, according to a recent study.

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Sixty percent of the doctors responding to the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey are likely to will retire sooner than planned in the next one to three years, irrespective of age, gender or medical specialty.

Nearly three-quarters of physicians think the nation's best and brightest students will not consider a career in Medicine, according to the survey.

"Health insurance exchanges are unlikely to be ready for enrollment by the 2013 deadline," the survey said. "Physicians are likely to increasingly compete with mid-level professionals in primary care, and Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements may be problematic, prompting many physicians to limit or close their practices to these enrollees."

Dr. Jane Orient, a spokeswoman for the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons told WND.com that she was not surprised by the survey.

Doctors have already started leaving their profession through early retirements, she said, and many will seek alternatives to what they consider a government takeover of healthcare.

"I think it's a disaster for patients," Orient said of Obamacare. "They may lose the doctor they relied on all their lives."

The Deliotte survey also revealed that physicians are recognizing that the "new normal will necessitate major changes in the profession that require them to practice in different settings as part of a larger organization that uses technologies and team-based models for consumer care."

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Orient warned that Obamacare will mean that many doctors will not be able to afford to continue a private practice, and will instead start working for corporate hospitals, giving physicians and patients alike the feeling of being on "an assembly line." This will mean doctors will be punished for spending too much time or too much treatment on a patient, she said.