# Doctor tells Obama voters to get lost **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 2, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776 "2010-04-02T21:43:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/61 "2010-04-04T01:52:07Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Considering that Obamacare will more than likely destroy his practice, I say kudos to him for having the balls to stand up for himself. Why his, in particular? Why would it not destroy every single medical practice in this country? Or do you think it will? > [@](#): > > His actions are highly ethical and instead of pissing, moaning and whining like the lot of you are, you should be applauding him for them. Surely you aren’t stating that this doctor’s level of care would’ve been affected by his political beliefs, had he continued to treat everyone, are you? Or that he should take out his frustrations with the government on the patients who voted for it? And why would someone who believes in UHC “applaud” this doctor in either case? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/62 "2010-04-04T03:18:02Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Explain. Medicare has forced a large number of doctors to either close their doors or stop accepting Medicare. Doctors will not have the option to not accept Obamacare. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/63 "2010-04-04T03:19:05Z")
> [@emacknight](#): > > And it begins… What, the injection of logic and reason into the middle of a liberal wankfest? You betcha it begins. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/64 "2010-04-04T03:20:06Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Y’know, Obamacare is now a law. Passed by Congress, signed by the President. If in fact, the health care law will destroy his practice, it’s a done deal. How does his refusal to treat people who voted for Obama anything other than a petulant temper tantrum that violates his Hippocratic Oath? He’s not refusing to treat them. He’s simply asking them to go somewhere else for treatment. If they don’t, he’s not going to turn them away. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/65 "2010-04-04T03:21:07Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Medicare has forced a large number of doctors to either close their doors or stop accepting Medicare. Doctors will not have the option to not accept Obamacare. Lets see the payment schedules comparing the two. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/66 "2010-04-04T03:22:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t know why I’m bothering to ask, since your political posts are invariably drive-bys, but in what possible sense are his actions “highly ethical”? How are they not? Obamacare is going to adversely affect his way of making a living. He is simply emphasizing that point. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/67 "2010-04-04T03:25:55Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Why his, in particular? Why would it not destroy every single medical practice in this country? Or do you think it will? I think it will. If Obamacare is not obliterated, I think that we are going to see a tremendous shortage of doctors. People just aren’t going to go into the profession any longer because they won’t be able to make a living at it. As I mentioned earlier, currently doctors can refuse to take Medicare. They won’t be able to refuse to take Obamacare. > [@](#): > > Surely you aren’t stating that this doctor’s level of care would’ve been affected by his political beliefs, had he continued to treat everyone, are you? Or that he should take out his frustrations with the government on the patients who voted for it? And why would someone who believes in UHC “applaud” this doctor in either case? I didn’t advocate anything of the sort. I’m simply applauding him for having the integrity to stand up for his beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/68 "2010-04-04T03:49:48Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > He’s not refusing to treat them. He’s simply asking them to go somewhere else for treatment. If they don’t, he’s not going to turn them away. How, in fact, is a sign on his front door urging people who voted for Obama and are in need of urological care to go away not in violation of his oath? He’d be a lot more ethical if he simply retired. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/69 "2010-04-04T04:25:21Z")
Garden hose catheter seems appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/70 "2010-04-04T04:33:09Z")
I don’t want to know what political persuasion my doctors happen to hold. If I find out my doctor’s political beliefs, that’s probably because he has gone out of the way to let me know what they are. (Excepting cases where it comes up in friendly conversation, but I have never personally had this happen, nor would I expect it to.) If he has gone out of the way to let me know what they are – for example, by putting a sign up on the front door – then I wonder if this is going to affect his level of care given to certain patients. And if he’s going to be unprofessional enough to let that happen, in what other ways might he be unprofessional? I don’t feel I can trust such a person to provide me with excellent care, so if possible I’m going to find another doctor. This would be true even if the political sign in question were a pro-Obama poster in the waiting room, or a “Teabaggers not welcome” sign, or anything like that. Unprofessional and unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![emacknight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ec8ea/32.png) [@emacknight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emacknight)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/71 "2010-04-04T04:35:59Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > What, the injection of logic and reason into the middle of a liberal wankfest? You betcha it begins. I welcome logic, and am still waiting for it’s injection. This isn’t a _liberal_ anything, this man is not your hero. He is a fucking hack of a doctor, and a jerk of a person. You can accept that, and acknowledge that, regardless of who is he refusing to treat. So here I am, bent over and ready for logic: What exactly are “his beliefs?” That he shouldn’t have to treat liberals? What is he standing up for? Who is he standing up to? What logic are you applying here? So a guy voted for Obama a couple years ago, now he has an enlarged prostate, and this doctor has decided to take it out on him? In the end, the whole exercise is pointless because the doctor has no way of knowing who voted for Obama. All he’s done is make a meaningless gesture that the conservatives are going to have a field day with. Like I said, he’s being applauded by the right for “stickin it to the man.” He’s their new hero. Why the hell would you make this asshole your hero? What the fuck is the difference between “liberals go elsewhere” and all the other forms of discrimination we’ve been working to get rid of? “So I took off my hat and said imagine that. Me workin’ for you.” ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/72 "2010-04-04T14:32:06Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Considering that Obamacare will more than likely destroy his practice, I say kudos to him for having the balls to stand up for himself. Please explain to me, in some detail, what aspects of this law are going to destroy his business, and how. Thank you in advance. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/73 "2010-04-04T15:07:41Z")
[http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010\_04/023191.php](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_04/023191.php) By way of _Washington Monthly_, connecting to Alan Colmes (late of _Hannity and His Bitch_), this interview outake… > [@](#): > > …The urologist specifically argued that officials, in light of the new law, are “cutting all supportive care, like nursing homes, ambulance services.” > > Colmes: What do you mean they’re cutting nursing homes? > > Cassell: They’re cutting nursing home reimbursements. > > Colmes: Isn’t what they’re cutting under the Medicare plan what was really double dipping; they were getting credits and they were getting to deduct them at the same time. > > Cassell: Well you know, I can’t tell you exactly what the deal is. [emphasis added] > > Colmes: If you can’t tell us exactly what the deal is, why are you opposing it and fighting against it? > > What a good question. Cassell struggled to explain himself, saying he’d seen some things “online,” and adding that the information he needs to understand the law “should be available to me.”… Offered without comment, none being necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/74 "2010-04-04T16:23:03Z")
I like this doctor. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/75 "2010-04-04T16:31:38Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Medicare has forced a large number of doctors to either close their doors or stop accepting Medicare. Doctors will not have the option to not accept Obamacare. What are you talking about? The HCR legislation doesn’t create a new health plan. It simply modifies existing ones. There’s no Medicare buy-in or public option; health insurance will still be offered by private companies, for profit. It doesn’t modify or restrict reimbursement rates. Read [this](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000846-503544.html), and make up your own mind; you do yourself a disservice by letting other people make it for you before you have the facts. > [@Clothahump](#): > > How are they not? Obamacare is going to adversely affect his way of making a living. He is simply emphasizing that point. No, it won’t. If you’d bothered to find out what’s in the bill, you’d already know that all “Obamacare” does from the physician’s point of view is add 27 million patients to his list of potential clients. If anything, Obamacare is going to help his practice. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/76 "2010-04-04T16:42:01Z")
Yes indeed ,there are just no immediate effects of the health care law . The doctor just knows ,like Clothahump. That is unless you count 1. You can not be denied coverage for pre existing conditions 2. Your health carrier can not drop you if you get sick and actually need what you paid for 3. Young adults can stay on their parents policies til 26 4. new health plans are required to provide free preventative care .No copays or deductibles You pick your own primary care doctor 5. women will be allowed to visit their ob-gyn without first obtaining permission from their health insurance carrier 6. All patients are guaranteed access to emergency care 7. no lifetime limits on coverage 8.seniors get a free annual wellness checkup-no co pay or or deductible for that visit 8. seniors get a 250 buck rebate if they are getting affected by the donut hole 9. retiree health plans qualify for new Federal Assistance Program for health plans covering early retirees reduce business costs 10. small businesses get a tax cut to help pay for employees health coverage.Full credit if you employ 10 or less workers 11. Increased funding for Community Health Centers ,11 bill over the next 5 years 12. insurance companies must allow you to appeal denial of care and get an independent review 13. Insurance companies are required to spend 80-85 percent of their revenues on medical care, not advertising ,salaries and lobbying. -if they fail, they must give customers a rebate ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/77 "2010-04-04T16:48:13Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > How, in fact, is a sign on his front door urging people who voted for Obama and are in need of urological care to go away not in violation of his oath? A lot of graduating MDs do not take the Hippocratic Oath (my med school was one that did not, substituting some generic thing I’ve completely forgotten). And if this guy did take the Oath, it’s hard to see how he’s violating it. The [classic Hippocratic Oath](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippocratic_Oath) has nothing in it that specifically addresses this issue. And I can’t recall Apollo, Panacea or any of the other gods and goddesses having opinions on the matter. On the other hand the guy has behaved like a jerk, and it will serve him right if he winds up with a practice full of Palindrones and tea partiers with prostates the size of grapefruit, bitching and moaning ad nauseum. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/78 "2010-04-04T18:51:28Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > On the other hand the guy has behaved like a jerk, and it will serve him right if he winds up with a practice full of Palindrones and tea partiers with prostates the size of grapefruit, bitching and moaning ad nauseum. On the other hand, sounds like he won’t have a shortage of patients needing his services and will continue to have a successful practice. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/79 "2010-04-04T18:58:47Z")
Well, maybe. Some people will be suspicious of a doctor who insists on being paid in Euros… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776/80 "2010-04-04T19:15:18Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Considering that health care is a matter of life and death, if he thinks that the legislation will lower the quality of care, then he’s talking about people being killed by this legislation. As a doctor, one can presume that he would have a very strong objection to people getting killed needlessly. That’s a real leap, and giving Dr. Cassell the extreme benefit of the doubt. What I think he’s saying is: “I treat people. Democrats are not people.” Not too different than if it were 1960 and he had a sign up saying, “I treat Whites only.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/doctor-tells-obama-voters-to-get-lost/534776.md?page=5)