"The Risks & Perils of ObamaCare" : What You Can Do

"The Risks & Perils of ObamaCare" : What You Can Do

** Correction: Dr. Naffah can be contacted at  avamarnaffah@aol.com ** 
A medical doctor in the crucial swing state of Ohio is publishing a 2,000-word letter slamming President Barack Obama’s health care law as full-page ads in local newspapers ahead of the presidential election.

Dr. Farid Naffah, a gastroenterologist in Warren, Ohio, wrote “The Risks and Perils of Obamacare” letter that has run both twice in the Tribune Chronicle and once in the Youngstown Vindicator in Ohio over the last week.

Dr. Naffah's piece on "The Risks and Perils of ObamaCare" is extremely powerful, well-written, persuasive and highly informative. It is an incredibly powerful and influential piece of intellectual ammunition that health care professionals and concerned citizens can critically use to influence the minds of undecided voters- especially in swing states - in the next 2 weeks.

First, from his letter: 


"“...If the Affordable Care Act is not socialized medicine it will of necessity lead to it, by the exercise of regulatory mechanisms and fiscal pressure,” Naffah writes in the essay.

“Medicine will no longer be a liberal profession,” he argues, “but a government job, where your physician’s desire to excel in the delivery of care will cede its place to the fulfillment of government imposed requirements, the adherence to imperious rules and the fear of retribution.”

In the letter, the doctor argues that, “If all you know about Obamacare is that it will provide insurance to 32 million Americans who don’t have it; that patients with pre-existing conditions may not be excluded from coverage; that certain screening procedures are offered without co-payments, and that children may remain on their parents’ plan until the age of twenty-six, you would have no reason to fear or oppose it.”

“Sadly, that is exactly where the Obama White House wants you to be: in sheer ignorance of the innumerable provisions that make up the 2,700 pages of the law,” he writes.

Read the whole thing here

WHAT YOU CAN DO: 

First, read the whole thing. If you agree, consider getting actively involved in the effort to disseminate his message in your town or state. Print it out. Show it to friends and family. Show it to your own doctor. Chances are, he will be grateful to see that you care about this issue. Disseminate it to friends and family and through social networking sites.

If you are a doctor or health care professional: Consider recruiting other health care professionals to help fund a full page ad of this message in your local newspaper, listing the names of the local doctors who support these opinions and oppose the misleadingly named "Affordable Care Act" and realize that its repeal requires that President Obama NOT be granted 4 more years to implement it.

I have spoken with Dr. Naffar directly. He was thrilled with my support and to hear the extent to which his message had gotten out in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. he was delighted to grant me his blanket permission for health care professionals to print out copies of his ad on a national basis to disseminate in their waiting rooms to patients. He gave blanket permission to doctors everywhere to band together in their local communities to fund and run this ad in their local newspaper . He gave me his contact information. 

I would encourage any doctor wishing to help fund an ad to put in a courtesy call / email to Dr. Naffar to express your support and your intentions and thank him for speaking out in such powerful way at such a critical time. He can be contacted at avamarnaffah@aol.com.

As Dr. Naffar stressed- and which I have always said myself- your patients know their own doctor and trust you - and your word carries weight in your local community. Where it is the choice of a particular medical treatment, surgical option, or  drug regimen, patients trust you to help them make life -or -death medical care decisions in their best interest- by providing them with the facts,  options and recommendations and helping them to decide on a course of action which is in their best interest. 

ObamaCare is not about one particular medical or surgical option or drug regimen. It is  about whether doctors and patients will have the ability and freedom  to make such choices AT ALL. It is about whether or not they will have the ability  to make those decisions based on a doctor's best medical knowledge and judgement and a patient's autonomy and best interests- or whether such decisions will be ripped out of their hands and made by the hundreds of  politically motivated new federal bureaucracies tasked with deciding how "taxpayer- appropriated  social resources should be allocated" to serve the collective need of society, rather than to treat an individual patient.

Many  voters are still at least *somewhat* skeptical of the platitudes and rhetoric of politicians who make empty promises of "free stuff" from beneficent politician using the federal treasury as his own personal cookie jar to buy voters by handing out "free stuff". Many are not. 

However, regardless- most patients properly trust their doctors to have their best interests at heart and to give them the facts necessary to make important decisions that will affect their lives. 

For that reason,  when a patient in your community recognizes  your name on a signed ad voicing your opinion on the destructive effects of ObamaCare, they will probably not dismiss it lightly. At the very least, it will give them pause and may  incentivize them to seek more information about the law which could influence their voting decisions. This effort alone could make the  difference in a swing state to put Romney over the top.

For my part, I intend to start contacting  doctors today in Pennsylvania to to attempt to fund this important  effort. I hope others will do the same.

It is not too late yet- but the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. As you can observe clearly, the words and efforts of ONE person can have dramatic impact on the minds of many. And so could you- if you get involved.

In closing, I'd like to bring your attention to an inspirational quote from an essay written by Ayn Rand entitled : " What Can One Do? <to which I took the presumptuous editorial liberty of inserting a few personal comments to emphasize the relevance to the field of health care> :

" Today, most people are acutely aware of our cultural-ideological
vacuum <and the legal and economic chaos of our health care system>;
they are anxious, confused, and groping for answers. Are you able to
enlighten them?

Can you answer their questions? Can you offer them a consistent case?
Do you know how to correct their errors? Are you immune from the
fallout of the constant barrage aimed at the destruction of reason
<and freedom in our health care system>? Can you provide others with
antimissile missiles?

* A political battle is merely a skirmish fought with muskets; a
philosophical battle is a nuclear war.*

If you want to influence a country's intellectual trend <or bring
rational reform to the health care system>, the first step is to
bring order to your own ideas and integrate them into a consistent
case, to the best of your knowledge and ability.

This does not mean memorizing and reciting slogans and principles;
knowledge necessarily includes the ability to apply abstract
principles to concrete problems, to recognize the principles in
specific issues, to demonstrate them, and to advocate a consistent
course of action.

This does not require omniscience or omnipotence; it is the
subconscious expectation of automatic omniscience in oneself and in
others that defeats many would-be crusaders (and serves as an excuse
for doing nothing).

What is required is honesty- intellectual honesty- which consists
in knowing what one does know, constantly expanding one's knowledge,
and never evading or failing to correct a contradiction. This means:
the development of an active mind as a permanent attribute.

When or if your convictions are in your conscious, orderly control,
you will be able to communicate them to others.

If you like condensations (provided you bear in mind their full
meaning), I will say: when you ask "What can one do?" the answer
is "SPEAK" (provided you know what you are saying).

A few suggestions: do not wait for a national audience. Speak on any
scale open to you, large or small, to your friends, your associates,
<your patients>, your professional organizations, or any legitimate
public forum.

You can never tell when your words will reach the right mind at the
right time. You will see no immediate results, but it is of such
activities that public opinion is made."

Full essay here. 

This election is a referendum on public opinion- on ObamaCare and President Obama' s disastrous economic policies and foreign policy record. You can have an impact by getting involved in helping to influence that public opinion.