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Obama Admin Plans Stealth Survey on Doctors
June 27, 2011
The Obama administration is planning a "stealth survey" of doctors, according to a story published in the New York Times today. According to government documents obtained by the Times, the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will send out "mystery shoppers" -- government contractors posing as patients -- who will ask physicians if they are accepting new patients, giving various descriptions of the kind of health care insurance or government programs under which they have coverage.
Administration officials claim the effort is necessary to help people gain access to physicians, especially primary care doctors, in light of the new mandates under ObamaCare. HHS is targeting slighly over 4,100 physicians -- 465 each in the states of Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
But doctors quoted in the story uniformly oppose the plan, pointing out that primary care doctors need help from the government, not tricks. Moreover, they point out that the government is an unreliable business partner, especially regarding Medicare and Medicaid payments.
To protest this surveilance program, contact HHS and your federal congressional representatives.
Update: Late in the afternoon on June 28, HHS announced they were canceling their plan of surveillance. Read more on the story at The Hill.com.
