Canadian Physicians take another pay cut - Patients suffer! Obamcare would be worse than the Canadian system for Patients and Physicians alike

If Obamacare is not repealed, one may only have to look to Ontario, Canada to see the future of healthcare in America. In the Canadian province, the government unilaterally imposed over $300 million in fee cuts to try to close a $15 billion deficit, which has led to physicians fighting with the government -- and their own medical association -- over payouts, fees, hours, and what exactly constitutes a proper and appropriate salary for physicians and specialists.

By Tony Lee  H/T Brietbart 10/23/12

It is pure chaos where government randomly picks winners and losers.

As the National Post reports, Ontario’s doctors are taking the province to court to fight the $340-million in proposed fee cuts, and some doctors are considering setting up an outside collective bargaining organization to negotiate with the province, claiming that the current group (Ontario Medical Association) that represents them is selling them out to government negotiators. The Ontario government unilaterally imposed these cuts, picking winners and losers

The Ontario government, according to the report, commissioned studies from outside experts and have determined "certain physicians earn too much relative to others, partly because technological changes have made some procedures — like cataract operations — easier and faster to perform."

Meanwhile, Ontario specialists "targeted for fee cuts, however, counter that their income has risen chiefly because they received additional funding to shorten wait lists — meaning they are working harder and longer hours for the extra pay."

David Jacobs, a Toronto radiologist, feels the medical association is sacrificing specialists like radiologists and ophthalmologists.

“We feel that the government’s belligerence and bullying is being rewarded,” he told the Post. “It’s like asking someone with a knife sticking out of their chest if they wouldn’t mind donating blood.”

Many of the speciality groups have publicly expressed their dismay at the government and the medical association, while others have been afraid to comment because they fear the government or the association will retaliate against them.

Radiologists:

“We have not received a clear answer as to why the OMA is sacrificing the interests of a minority of its membership,” the Ontario Association of Radiolgoists says in a toughly worded position paper. “The OMA is not delivering on its duty of fair and equitable representation of radiologists and other similarly affected physicians.”

Cardiologists:
The cardiologists’ association is reserving judgment as fee talks with the Health Ministry play out, said Dr. Bill Hughes, the group’s president.
“If, two or three weeks from now, it appears a few [specialty] sections are really being run roughshod over, then I think you’ll hear voices about (OMA) representation,” said Dr. Hughes.

 Ophthalmologists:

Dr. Nav Nijhawan, chair of the opthalmology section of the association, also hard hit by the cuts, declined to comment.

Not to be outdone, the medical association has launched a constitutional challenge against the Ontario government regarding the unilateral nature of the cuts. With all this infighting, patients end up being the biggest losers, and this chaos awaits Americans if Obamacare is not repealed.