When no one cared about Obamacare

Dr. Rosedale checked in at the front desk, where an attractive front office coordinator named Sandy, smiled warmly at him. Ever since his divorce, the ladies were treating him extra nice. Imagining that they felt sorry for him, he also dared to wonder if some wished to become the next Mrs. Rosedale.  “You’re in room 3, doctor,” she said. “Let me get you set up.” She stood and waited for him to follow.

Something on the television in the waiting room caught his ear in that moment, in September 2010. President Obama was announcing that he had just signed the Affordable Care Act into law, and now 50 million uninsured Americans would be able to afford healthcare insurance. “Sandy, did you hear that?” he said, watching her pivot and stride down the hall in her high heels. He caught up with her. “Did you know that many people were uninsured?”

“Thank God for our President,” she said. “Half my family is uninsured, now we can all get covered. How have you been, doctor? It’s good to see you.” Arriving at room 3, she laid charts on his desk and stood by. Her bright eyes and smile mesmerized him, and he wanted to ask her out on a date, right there. Don’t get your honey where you make your money, said a voice in his head, and the urge vanished.

“I’m doing alright, everything considered. Thanks, Sandy.” He knew that she knew about his divorce with Irenka. The thought that she might want to be with him made him feel butterflies below his belt. “Let me know if the ACA helps your family, I can’t wait to see what happens,” he said.

“I will, Dr. Rosedale. Let me know if you need anything.” Sandy turned and sashayed back to the front office.

The voice of  a colleague boomed down the  hall, “Can I get some help in room 6?” Brad was compelled to get his view on the state of health care in America. He darted over to find his colleague prepping a patient for an injection.

“Hey Dr. Bob, did you know that 50 million Americans don’t have insurance? It’s on the news right now. I didn’t know it was that bad. Amazing!”

Expecting a concurring opinion, Bob said: “I don’t care as long as they don’t come to my office!” Brad was stunned, even more so because he had said it right in front of his patient.  The busy was known for its casual atmosphere, and everyone enjoyed it. But causal had just turned to callous.

Over the next few weeks, Brad queried his colleagues and again and again, he heard similar comments. The more he heard, the more he was offended that so many working Americans could not afford healthcare insurance. Because doctors didn’t care, he concluded that they were part of the problem, and he vowed to do something about it. He became an activist to support health care reform.

Dr. Rosedale discovered the organizations that were dedicated to improving access to health care in the U.S. He joined Physicians For A National Health Program (PNHP) who had been supporting single-payer insurance, or “Medicare For All,” since the 1980s.  PNHP soon showed that they were too radical for political support. He joined Doctors For America, which was committed to supporting the new healthcare act that had been signed into law The ACA, or Obamacare) and after showing extra interest, he was invited to become the California State Director.

Brad was inspired to make a change, and with another colleague, a crusty retired thoracic surgeon who wanted to make a difference, they set up a series of town halls to educate the public. He took the entire 1100 page ACA and broke it down into a PowerPoint Presentation with cartoons and fun questions that would captivate the audience. Marketing with flyers, social media, and as much word of mouth as could be spread, the whole effort was a disaster.  4 or 5 people arrived to listen to their talks in places like the San Francisco Public Library and Marin General Hospital, rooms that could seat 50-200. The worst was at Stanford University, where half a dozen students showed up late and walked out in the middle of the talk.

Doctors For America held a One Million Campaign to educate 1 million Americans about Obamacare, the new name for the ACA. Brad and his retired colleague kept a careful count on how many people they could reach by twitter and email replies and totaled several hundred. But one of the state directors published an article on a back page of a popular newspaper and counted all of the 150,000 subscribers as now educated about Obamacare. Doctors For America got their numbers for the 1 Million campaign, not by honest hard work but by manipulating statistics so they could keep their donations coming in.

Frustrated by the public’s apathy toward President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, angered by his greedy colleagues, and disenchanted by the ineffective or corrupt practices of the health care reformers, Dr, Brad Rosedale gave up on health care reform.