The President Elect of the American Medical Association says the Affordable Care Act is not a black and white issue.
Dr. Robert Wah spoke in Rapid City at the South Dakota Medical Association Annual Meeting. Dr. Wah says the ACA contains facets that both help and hurt physicians.
“The Affordable Care Act is not just one thing. It’s like 25 hundred pages of legislation, so there are some good things in there and some very bad things in there. But some of the good things are having our patients with insurance is a huge improvement. Because we know that patients that don’t have insurance live sicker and die younger. What I mean by that is if you don’t have insurance you are afraid to go to the doctor because it’s going to cost money and so you put off getting small problems dealt with and wait until they get to be big problems. And when they get to be big problems that can lead to a shorter life because we don’t have a chance to intervene and make a difference,” says Dr. Wah.
Dr. Wah adds that having insurance coverage for 32 million additional people is a very good thing.
But he says there are major problems for doctors in the ACA they include how the insurance plans are administered and financed.
Dr. Wah says physicians are concerned about a number of federal regulations inside and outside the ACA that get in the way of physicians ability to care for patients.
He says the AMA will work with its members, Congress, and the public to find solutions.