A deeply troubling government report on projections of doctor shortages has been surpressed by Obama Administration officials because the news potentially would further undermine the promises made by the president on health care reform.
The report, authored by the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO), was issued September 30 in Washington and was greeted with stony silence by the news outlets and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
The investigation by the GAO was requested by three Republican senators, including Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Mike Enzi of Wyoming. In its report, GAO exposes the administration's failings in offering an analysis of a future scarcity of health care providers.
"Since 2008, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded five contracts to research organizations to update national workforce projections, but HRSA has failed to publish any new reports containing projections," the report documents.
As the GAO points out, government, academic and health organizations have all issued projections of shortfalls in health care professions, which could "adversely affect patients access to care." Yet Sebelius' stormtroopers have steadfastly refused to release figures, despite spending millions to research the issue.
It is painfully obvious that Sebelius' and her boss want to cover up what health care industry experts already know. The United States faces a crippling deficit of doctors, which has been exacerbated by the introduction of Obamacare.
In a recent report, the Association of American Colleges estimated the country will experience a shortage of more than 90,000 physicians by 2020. That number is expected to balloon to more than 130,000 doctors by 2025.
Democrats and Obama sycophants are quick to point out those are just projections. However, the forecast may actually be too low in light of last week's announcement that insurance firm United Healthcare has dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in at least ten states.
The reason many doctors are fleeing for the exits is because Obamacare whittles payments to physicians for many patient services while increasing paperwork and administrative red tape, which raises staffing requirements. That means doctors' expenses increase while their income falls.
If the projected shortfalls in health care workforce materialize, the GAO warns that this could "result in delays in getting care, or patients not receiving needed care." Without the government estimates, policy makers are handicapped in addressing the shortage, the GAO underscores in its narrative.
These are sobering cautions that are anathema to the president and Sebelius. Neither want to hear there won't be enough medical professionals to deliver on their promises of improved health care. They would prefer to dupe Americans in order to reach their political agenda of socialized medicine.
Of course, it wouldn't be the first time the duo has engaged in deception. Just ask the millions of Americans who are now discovering they can't keep their current health coverage despite the president's repeated assurances on at least 23 separate occasions.
Wait until Americans learn they won't be able to keep their doctor either.
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