Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

8 ways doctors can help patients affected by the impending repeal of Obamacare

Sandeep Palakodeti, MD, MPH
Physician
December 22, 2016
Share
Tweet
Share

If you’re like me, you’re getting a bit restless hearing about what may or may not happen to the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

As doctors, we are trained to act. While administrators plan new quality improvement programs, we take each day as an opportunity to improve our practice and work more closely with our teams. While our clinics and hospitals try to figure out how to streamline workflows in our EHRs, we diligently maintain medical records for our patients (in spite of our EHRs!) and work late, so our patients receive the best care possible. While payers debate new ways to compensate us for coordinating care, we go out of our way to call, page, and text our colleagues, so nothing slips through the cracks.

So, for us, this moment should be no different.

Throughout medical school and residency I took care of uninsured and underinsured individuals. They were often my best teachers, gracious about the limitations of my stage of training and grateful for whatever help I could provide. Years later I still care for uninsured and underinsured patients. So why should tomorrow be any different?

In the news, and now on our social media, we keep hearing about different forms of activism: petition your medical societies and governing bodies, call your state and national representatives, march on Washington. But, as doctors, we have always participated in our own quiet form of activism: one patient at a time, we keep doing whatever it takes to keep the system going.

And if you’re like me, it doesn’t matter to you if a patient is uninsured or insured. You are trained to help and if you know how, you will.

The fact is that today 22 million people receive health coverage through the Affordable Care Act. That means 1 in 15 Americans, 1 in 15 of our neighbors, and 1 in 15 of our patients receive health coverage through the Affordable Care Act. And, at this point in time, no one knows what’s going to happen to them.

Regardless of your politics, their health matters. Their lives matter. So let’s continue to do what we’ve always done.

Here are 8 ways we as doctors and health care professionals can uniquely help anyone affected by the impending repeal of Obamacare:

1. Tell our patients’ stories. Hearing about the uninsured and underinsured brings a human face to the challenge. Help those around us understand that these are our neighbors and friends, and that without insurance they get left behind.

2. Talk to our patients who are insured through the Affordable Care Act about their concerns and fears. As doctors, it is our responsibility to treat the whole person, and right now many of these individuals are under significant stress.

3. Volunteer to see patients — even just a few hours a week — at a public hospital or safety net clinic. The safety net is a national network of public hospitals, community health centers, and free clinics that provide affordable primary care for our nation’s underserved. These centers face a shortage of primary care physicians as well as specialists.

4. Volunteer to provide medical education to safety net providers to increase their capacity to manage complex patients.

ADVERTISEMENT

5. Volunteer to provide free electronic curbside consults to primary care physicians caring for individuals in the safety net system, such as by collaborating on cases through free services like the Human Diagnosis Project.

6. Share your expertise in online physician Q&A forums so that those without coverage have access to accurate and free online resources.

7. Take the national doctors’ pledge at www.22MillionLives.org (#22MillionLives) to care for any American who loses health coverage.

8. Share this post and #22MillionLives with your friends so that they can help too.

This isn’t political. This is simply our calling.

Sandeep Palakodeti is a hospitalist.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Holiday safety tips from a pediatrician-rapper

December 22, 2016 Kevin 0
…
Next

Why doctors are rebelling against saving lives

December 22, 2016 Kevin 13
…

Tagged as: Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Holiday safety tips from a pediatrician-rapper
Next Post >
Why doctors are rebelling against saving lives

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Sandeep Palakodeti, MD, MPH

  • How good of a clinician are you?

    Sandeep Palakodeti, MD, MPH

Related Posts

  • Here are some things that patients wish doctors knew

    R. Lynn Barnett
  • We are warriors: doctors and patients

    Michele Luckenbaugh
  • Are patients using social media to attack physicians?

    David R. Stukus, MD
  • Doctors and patients should be wary of health care mega-mergers

    Linda Girgis, MD
  • A perk of Medicare for all: More time for doctors and patients

    Rani Marx, PhD, MPH and James G. Kahn, PhD
  • Doctors and patients continue to search through the overgrown forest of corporate health care

    Michele Luckenbaugh

More in Physician

  • How subjective likability practices undermine Canada’s health workforce recruitment and retention

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Why judgment is hurting doctors—and how mindfulness can heal

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • Why evidence-based management may be an effective strategy for stronger health care leadership and equity

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • The gift we keep giving: How medicine demands everything—even our holidays

    Tomi Mitchell, MD
  • From burnout to balance: a neurosurgeon’s bold career redesign

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • Why working in Hawai’i health care isn’t all paradise

    Clayton Foster, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Decoding your medical bill: What those charges really mean

      Cheryl Spang | Finance
    • The emotional first responders of aesthetic medicine

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • Why testosterone matters more than you think in women’s health

      Andrea Caamano, MD | Conditions
    • A mind to guide the machine: Why physicians must help shape artificial intelligence in medicine

      Shanice Spence-Miller, MD | Tech
    • How subjective likability practices undermine Canada’s health workforce recruitment and retention

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 2 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Decoding your medical bill: What those charges really mean

      Cheryl Spang | Finance
    • The emotional first responders of aesthetic medicine

      Sarah White, APRN | Conditions
    • Why testosterone matters more than you think in women’s health

      Andrea Caamano, MD | Conditions
    • A mind to guide the machine: Why physicians must help shape artificial intelligence in medicine

      Shanice Spence-Miller, MD | Tech
    • How subjective likability practices undermine Canada’s health workforce recruitment and retention

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

8 ways doctors can help patients affected by the impending repeal of Obamacare
2 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...