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AZ Doc To Close Practice Due to Obamacare
foxnews.com ^ | April 18, 2010 | Lauren Torlone

Posted on 04/18/2010 3:08:29 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

Arizona physician Joseph Scherzer says he plans to close his office by 2014 unless the new health care law is repealed by Congress or the courts, despite the fact that new health care regulations won’t fully kick in for a few years.

He’s one of several doctors across the country preparing for changes that will greatly impact the way they operate. Earlier this week Dr. Scherzer posted a sign on the front door of his practice that read, “If you voted for Obamacare, be aware these doors will close before it goes into effect, unless Congress or the Courts repeal the bill."

Dr. Scherzer, who has more than 30 years of experience practicing medicine, told Fox News on Sunday, “We need to be unafraid. This is an important time…many doctors talk about it in the lunch room, but don't do anything. And if there is a chance to speak out, you need to take it." He went on to urge patients to do the same.

"This bill could really represent the death of professional medicine,” Scherzer said.

(Excerpt) Read more at liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: healthcare; obamacare

1 posted on 04/18/2010 3:08:29 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
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To: Free ThinkerNY
You just know that right now there are several folks (some in the media and others in the White House and still others on Capitol Hill) digging up as much dirt as they can on Dr. Scherzer.

I admire Dr. Scherzer for wbat he has done, but I do hope he is prepared for the blast that is sure to come from guys like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama.

2 posted on 04/18/2010 3:13:10 PM PDT by chs68
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To: Free ThinkerNY; TigersEye; JustPiper; caww; MestaMachine

Obama: “Half of my letters brand me an idiot”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2468312/posts

Filing this in ...

Obama-nomics link-list
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2464021/posts

Related ...

After Health Care Passage, Obama Pushes to Get It Rolling - “faster than the law requires”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2495557/posts


3 posted on 04/18/2010 3:13:49 PM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Weakening McCain strengthens our borders, weakens guest worker aka amnesty)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

This guy is doing what needs to be done. Spreading the word to people that respect his opinion. Being bottom line. “I’ll close if this isn’t repealed” speaks volumes. Good man that’s worked hard to build a business and obviously cares about his patients. If Obamacare gets hold, we’ll be awash with incompetence in medicine.


4 posted on 04/18/2010 3:14:13 PM PDT by albie
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Time for Nostilitis WaxMan to get out his subpoenas. LOL! What a buffoon.


5 posted on 04/18/2010 3:16:41 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Dude! Where's my Constitution!)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
For those who think he is doing it because of the money, Dr. Scherzer says, “In my case, it is not a worry about financial loss of income because I voluntarily cut my own income this past year.” He points instead to a fear of “government threats and financial threats of extremely horrendous fines that are present in Medicare if you…diagnose and treat.”
6 posted on 04/18/2010 3:16:57 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Free ThinkerNY

When 30% of the doctors decide to retire rather than have Obama as their boss, the American people will suffer. Perhaps Mrs. O can visit the long lines of suffering people as she did in Haiti and dance for them.


7 posted on 04/18/2010 3:17:12 PM PDT by kittymyrib
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Interview with Neil Cavuto...

http://tinyurl.com/y2crm7o


8 posted on 04/18/2010 3:18:41 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Free ThinkerNY

9 posted on 04/18/2010 3:19:51 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Free ThinkerNY

“I’m absolutely serious [about stopping practicing] and it’s not just because I’ll be nearing 65,” Scherzer said. “The stress is what would push me out the door. From what I’ve gathered hearing from my friends and peers, most physicians I’ve heard from feel the same way.”

Scherzer said the bill’s emphasis on punitive measures for physicians not following government-prescribed treatment methods under Medicare would increase his anxiety level to the point he would no longer be able to practice medicine. The maximum fine was previously $10,000; under the bill it will now be capped at $50,000. Scherzer said the fine system makes seeing a Medicare patients a difficult and stressful exercise.

“Doctors have actually committed suicide over these things. There’s no insurance to cover it,” Scherzer said, calling the fine system “tremendously complicated and Frankensteinian.” “It’s absolutely impossible to be certain you’ve complied. I feel like when I see a Medicare patient I have the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.”

Scherzer said he hasn’t been fined but he was audited by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services several years ago and spent months awaiting their findings. CMS never contacted him with the results of the audit, but he later found out that he had not been fined.

“There was just no contact whatsoever,” he said.

He also takes issue with the Democrats’ argument that much of the waste in the health-care system is driven by a profit motive on the part of physicians.

“The point of socialized medicine is to allow the government to budget the percentage of GDP spent on medical care. They don’t want to admit they are rationing care, so they say doctors are ordering too many tests to make money,” Scherzer said, adding that while there are always a few bad apples, the vast majority of physicians are ethical and do not knowingly order unnecessary tests.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/04/14/arizona-doctor-says-obamacare-will-force-him-to-close-shop#ixzz0lUd7xtEp


10 posted on 04/18/2010 3:21:21 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: Free ThinkerNY

bump


11 posted on 04/18/2010 3:36:18 PM PDT by lowbridge (Rep. Dingell: "Its taken a long time.....to control the people.")
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To: Free ThinkerNY

I hope they do retire rather than operate under the tyranny of this fascist law.


12 posted on 04/18/2010 3:58:54 PM PDT by MichiganConservative (A government big enough to do unto the people you don't like will get to doing unto you soon enough.)
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To: MichiganConservative

If a reporter asked islamabama about this he’d ramble for 17 minutes and at the end he’d probably say something like “I don’t believe it.”


13 posted on 04/18/2010 4:27:16 PM PDT by Terry Mross (Founding Fathers.....grave....rolling over.)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Ayn Rand predicted this over 50 years ago.
14 posted on 04/18/2010 5:16:26 PM PDT by Nateman (If liberals aren't screaming you're doing it wrong.)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

If my dad, who was a General Surgeon, was alive today, I don’t think he would take that path. I think he would do his damnedest to find away around that. He would find a method by which he could take care of his patients first and the govt be damned.


15 posted on 04/18/2010 5:27:20 PM PDT by celtic gal
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