Is the view worth the climb?

By Wyman Bowers, SCMA Associate General Counsel

Every day, not literally, but it seems like it is, a new crisis appears to erupt surrounding the government; whether it’s a government shutdown, the potential defunding of the Affordable Care Act, the delay of a major provision of the Affordable Care Act, like components of the Insurance Exchanges, and the list goes on and on.  Though certainly not every crisis impacts health care directly, far too many it appears do.

A physician friend of mine asked me recently, “Can they [in this context it was the federal bureaucrats] continue to delay parts of the Affordable Care Act that appear as if they will not work?”  My response to him was, it depends.  Certain parts they can and certain parts they cannot, or at least will not.  As in most cases, the complexity of the situation is more than it seems on the surface.  The politics of it are complicated, the finances of it are complicated, the operations of it are complicated and the future of it is certainly complicated.  Yet, because an issue is complicated does not necessitate the dismissal or avoidance of it.  Medicine is complicated, but every physician chose to enter the field and study it.  Perhaps even some of you choose medicine because of the continual stimulation it affords. 

In this time of change and transformation, there will be winners and losers.  Physicians are uniquely positioned to take back much of the ground that has been lost to those who, from many perspectives, control the practice of medicine.  It will not be easy, and it will not be without risk.  Yet, it is achievable.  The question is: will the view be worth the climb.  Only you can answer that.