“The big one I get is, ‘Are you going to be able to keep seeing me?’ ” Dr. Gerdes said. (She tells them she will.)
At Dr. Alieta Eck’s free clinic in Somerset, N.J., where all the doctors donate their time, Dr. Eck said many of her patients were excited about the new program. “People say, ‘I can’t wait for Obamacare,’ ” said Dr. Eck, who has been outspoken in her opposition to the program. “They’re already getting free care.”
Dr. Eck said that her office had not been overrun with questions about the bill, but that during visits at her paid practice, “most patients are fearing that everything’s going to cost them more.”
For many doctors, the big frustration comes when they do not know what to say to their patients.
“Quite honestly, I don’t know how to answer their concerns,” said Dr. Deborah A. Sutcliffe, a solo practitioner in Red Bluff, Calif. “Sometimes they’re more informed than I am, sometimes they’re not. I haven’t read the damn thing.”
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