JCT: Healthcare law to sock middle class with a $3.9 billion tax increase in 2019

Okay, I gotta jump in here. My wife is a nurse practitioner (in the interest of full disclosure). Nurse Practitioner's do not perform surgeries. They are not trained to do it and they do nothing further than lancing a puss filled obtrusion when you are talking surgical terms. But Lasalle makes a great point. They are trained just as well as doctors to handle general maladies and to deal with anything a GP would deal with. They are typically trained more on preventative health than doctors are and take a more holistic approach to health. My wife went to school for 8 years, just like a doctor does and she makes beans compared to doctors. The truth is, with the passage of this bill, we will have to rely more on NP's because we won't have enough general practitioners. The trick is, we have to convince everyone that it's not a bad thing. Doctor's, on the other hand, want you to think they are far inferior. It's just not the case.

EDIT: Also, i'm curious as to what you guys think of using NP's as primary care providers

 

That all depends on the patients situation, issues.
I think the quality of medical care is going to go right down the toilet for many reasons.
I think what scares most people like myself is that we already have a doctor shortage in this country.
It will only get worse if the government tries to control how much money a doctor can make and when he will receive his money.

I don't think a lot of Americans will put up with this.
I am not only describing doctors as Americans but patients as well.
A lot of doctors will retire, quit and do something else.
Obama is lying when he said you can keep your doctor or medical insurance.
The truth is a lot of people won't have that option for various reasons.

 

I guess the point is that we will be forced to use NP's because of the shortage of GP's and that freaks people when I really don't think it should. I started going to an NP for primary care a couple of years ago. Trust me, it's much better. What you have to remember is that GP's simply refer you to specialists when you have any kind of real issue anyway. It's the same for NP's.

 

I totally get your point here then but what really freaks me out is how many specialists are going to be left once the dust settles and how long the wait?
I can pretty much agree but at some point we are going to pay the price in more than one way if what I have read about Europe and Canada's health system turns out to be true here.
I don't think Americans and at least I hope they won't put up with it if it turns out anything like that.