“If Obamacare goes forward, they will make these types of clinics illegal. It will be done by federal regulation—not by laws passed by Congress. Anything that doesn’t support the socialist model intended will be stopped, one way or another. That is part of what’s at stake in this showdown over funding Obamacare, and both sides know it.”
I’m an MD, psychiatrist, in a small solo private practice. I could do something similar to the doc in the article, but the Feds could soon shut me down easily and anytime with several regulations - and they will.
I write prescriptions by hand still, and always will. That’s going to be regulated out of existence soon.
I also keep hand-written notes, because it serves me and my patients well. The notes are legible enough to defend in court, but of no use to the data-bases the gov is amassing on citizens: this will soon become a felony, if I read the intentions of the government correctly.
I do believe that the Feds, with their hands in every aspect of healthcare now, will also soon force the states to deny licenses to practitioners who do not practice ObamaCare.
Mine’s a profession that can be practiced well into old age, and where accumulated experience improves one’s abilities greatly over the years. Yet I’ll be retiring or going Galt any time now, I believe. Some foreign-trained, thickly accented doctor that patients won’t trust, or some nurse practitioner or GP doctor full of naive belief in their understanding of the field’s complexities will be caring for my patients - if there’s a healthcare system or a country left at all by that time.
Part of my practice is cash only and we are growing in that area and adding more clinics. I know several cash only docs in the area, including one who owns a couple of hospitals. Some docs have major commercial clients and all of the employees of those clients use cash only services. It is actually growing as a business model for now. As long as there are people willing to pay for privacy, it will be around. It may save a small amount of money for some people who take advantage of group rates, but it is mainly the privacy thing that drives it.