Sunday, August 8, 2010

Doctors against Obamacare say no to a government takeover

A sea of white coats filled Spanish Landing in downtown San Diego to present a united front against government-controlled health care. A group of physicians formed the National Doctors Tea Party and have begun their cross country trek; however these doctors are on a mission to educate Americans about the perils of Obamacare.

A bevy of speakers spoke about the dangers patients will face if the government is successful in monopolizing treatment options. Sharon Angle, a Tea Party candidate running against Senate leader Harry Reid, assured the fresh faces that attending a tea party may be uncomfortable at first, but the American cause is “well worth the extra work.”

Typical complaints speakers addressed was the need for choices, choices in doctors, choices in insurance and choices in politicians. Approximately 1,000 attendees cheered when Angle boasted about ousting incumbents, expanding liberty and limiting government’s reach into every aspect of daily life.

Three events compelled folks to spend a few hours of their weekend listening to doctors, radio talk show hosts and political hopefuls- President Obama suing Arizona for enforcing immigration laws; White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’s comment that Missouri’s 71 percent approval of proposition ‘C’ (protecting residents from being forced to buy Obamacare) means “nothing” to the White House; and one California judge telling seven million residents their votes meant nothing and overturned proposition 8 (the right for gays to marry).

Conversation amongst rally attendees had a common theme- American was being run like a dictatorship and the legislating from the bench had to stop. The Tea Party movement has been gaining popularity during the past 18 months and plenty of first-timers came out trying to determine what they can do to change the track America is heading down.

Even the younger generation knows the economic path the country is currently on is unsustainable.

“This is my first tea party and I came out because of what President Obama did to Arizona. It was the last straw for me,” says Ted a San Diego native. “My dad fought in Vietnam and was a prisoner of war, I know what freedom is and large government and deficit spending is not freedom.”

Author of “The truth about Obamacare,” Sally Pipes also spoke to San Diegans about the devastation Obamacare will bring to the world’s leader in health care. It was only three years ago that Pipes earned her American citizenship, she emigrated from Canada, and she has been a leading voice in warning Americans about the dangers of national health care.

She explained that since Canada implemented National health care in 1984, Canadians lost immediate access to doctors, have been subject to less than state-of-the-art technology and subjected to health care rationing.

“The average waiting list to see a primary care doctor is 16 weeks,” Pipes said. “We have more than 250 doctors leave Canada each year, not because they want to make more money, but because they want to be doctors without all the restrictions.”

Many Americans do not realize the Canadian system includes rationing care and that their spending is strictly enforced by the government’s fixed budget each year regardless of circumstances. Pipes also informed the attendees that Canada has made it illegal to purchase private health care.

She also said there are some easy fixes to bring American health care costs down – “stop forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine. This cost the U.S. $210 billion last year alone.”

The country’s continued unhappiness with the state of the economy has encouraged many to get involved in politics for the first time. Many of these folks have put in all on the line to run against well-established candidates in an attempt to represent the silent majority in the upcoming midterm election.

Chelene Nightingale, California gubernatorial candidate concurred with other Tea Party speakers, “Nothing from the government is free.” She went on to say, “One of my favorite Ronald Reagan quotes is ‘freedom is one generation away from extinction.”

The message from relative unknown politicians clearly resonated with San Diegans.

Crowd favorite, Congressional hopeful and Iraq War veteran, Nick Popaditch had plenty to say about the 2,500-page health care law. “When I was injured in 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, it was the doctors who took off their protective gear to save my life during a firefight.”

Popaditch commended America’s ability to provide him with the best medical treatment in the world. “Doctors were able to take a blind man (me) to a sighted man. It doesn’t get any better than that,” he said.

Like many would-be politicians, Popaditch promised the rally attendees he would repeal Obamacare if he was lucky enough to represent California’s 51st district. “I’ll defund Obamacare and the czars.” That statement earned the Iraq War hero a standing ovation.

Looking forward, doctors across America have drawn up a relatively simple plan to aid the skyrocketing costs of health care.

Start with issuing tax credit vouchers to insure 20 million without health insurance; Let insurance companies compete for customers; Expand high-risk pools (this includes pre-existing condition rules); Make insurance portable; Let patients shop around and encourage health savings accounts; Stop the lawsuit lottery by monitoring frivolous lawsuits; Reject government control; and Don’t allow bureaucrat health boards of unelected persons from making clinical decisions best left to doctors, is the plan from Docs 4 Patient Care.

The San Diego event organizer Doctor Adam Dorin of Physicians Against Obamacare said he began this journey because too many doctors were not being heard. In essence he said, “This movement is to awaken the American physician’s silent majority against Obamacare.”

The National Doctors Tea Party will continue to travel across the country educating doctors and patients with the hope that the White House will stop dictating and start listening to those who have a stake in providing the best health care to all Americans.

For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner

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