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Most doctors disapprove of Trump approach to health care
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A new survey shows that the majority of U.S. doctors do not like President Donald J. Trump’s job performance when it comes to health care policy, and think that the future of health care looks bleak for both medical professionals and patients.
Earlier this year, a poll that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that most U.S. physicians do not want to see the Affordable Care Act repealed. That survey was taken before the House pulled the original vote on the American Health Care Act due to a lack of support.
The new survey was conducted by InCrowd, a company, that, according to its website, was founded by a pharmaceutical research executive and a trained epidemiologist and researcher approximately 7 years ago.
According to a press release, 1,003 physicians from across the country responded to the survey on April 30 and May 1, several days before the House narrowly passed a Republican health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act. That bill is now with the Senate.
Among the new survey’s findings:
•54% approved of the Affordable Care Act implemented under former President Barack Obama, while 28% approve of the new American Health Care Act
•66% believe all Essential Health Benefits required by the Affordable Care Act should remain mandatory;
•65% think the reimbursement rates for physicians and health networks will get worse;
•65% oppose defunding Planned Parenthood, a move also opposed by the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecologists;
•63% expect the cost of premiums to go up;
•59% believe the number of uninsured patients will increase and that the shortage of health care professionals will only get worse;
•58% oppose exemptions that allow employers to not cover birth control costs, such as those that may occur as a result of President Trump’s executive order on religious liberty and free speech; and
•42% think the quality of health care will go down.
“Politics aside, a strict look at the data tells us most doctors are not pleased with the policies being debated as part of the [American Health Care Act]” Philip Moyer, senior director, InCrowd, said in a press release. “The fact that there is not a single health care category where doctors feel optimistic goes to show the complexity of the health care system overall.”
The new survey’s findings mirror many of the grievances aired by AAFP and ACP with the bill to start the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
The ACP has also voiced concerns that the proposed replacement bill “cuts and caps the federal contribution to Medicaid while sunsetting Medicaid expansion,” and the AAFP pointed out that the House version also did not reduce physicians’ administrative burdens, reform liability laws and lower pharmaceutical costs. – by Janel Miller
Disclosure: Healio Family Medicine was unable to determine Moyer’s relevant financial disclosures prior to publication.