Doctors Orders': Vote For Romney?

On Monday, TheBlaze spotlighted an ad from 500 former Generals and Admirals who were publicly supporting Mitt Romney for president.

On Sunday, a group of medical doctors in various fields of specialization, paid to publish an open letter to their patients. The full page ad ran  in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Image: Health Care Professionals For Romney Ryan 20112

The 41 doctors who signed their names to the document are a little different from the retired military pros who spoke out against President Obama. In this case, all of the people on the list are currently working in the medical field and have offered their advice to patients.

The idea for this unusual advocacy came after a small group of healthcare professionals decided to stand up against the "Affordable Care Act" (Obamacare). They created a group called "Docs4Patient Care."

Not long after Docs4 Patient Care began working in communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the group was approached by FreedomWorks. A cooperative project between the doctors and FreedomWorks produced a post card that was mailed to a list of over 21,000 undecided voters in Pennsylvania. The purpose of the mailing was to educate voters on the differences between the two leading Presidential candidates -- especially on the topic of health care. In this very specific instance, the doctors endorsed Mitt Romney and were promoting a repeal of Obamacare.

Image: Facebook

The postcard was a success and it sparked a few of the doctors to suggest the creation of a newspaper ad that might have even great impact on the upcoming election.

The campaign, which was designed to look like the Declaration of Independence, was conceived, designed, and published, all with in the space of a couple of weeks.

The letter is broken down into a few very specific categories, starting with "Insights from Practicing Physicians."  In the opening paragraph, the doctors claim:

The cause of today’s US health care crisis is not “too little government”. It is “too much government” - and the wrong kind.

The ad continues to make the case for Romney (and Senate candidate Tom Smith) using some powerful arguments based on a topic these doctors know something about -- healthcare:

• SENIORS: Alarming Problems Made Life Threatening - There is already a looming doctor shortage of more than 100,000 physicians in the next ten years. Many of you on Medicare are already facing difficulty finding a doctor. Now it will become far worse.

• Some of the Worst ObamaCare Rumors are True - When fully implemented, ObamaCare will create a myriad of new federal boards, agencies, commissions and panels - 159 and counting- to over-see and which can over-rule our medical judgement and affect your care.

• ObamaCare Fails its Primary Goal - Universal Coverage - After passing a 2,000 page law, writing over 12,000 pages of regulations (so far), and spending trillions of dollars over the next decade, the Government Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that 26 million Americans will still not have coverage.

• Doctors & Politics Don’t Mix - Mountains of government regulations and restrictions piled on relentlessly over the past 50 years have driven up the prices of medical services, and the cost of health insurance beyond the affordable range for many. Most of us have been silent.

For  more information on this group, you can visit their Facebook page here.

The full text of the ad as it appeared in the Sunday paper can be seen here.

Below is the basic text, without the list of doctors.

Dear Patients,

Vote for Mitt Romney

Tom Smith for Senate

Your Doctors

in Pennsylvania & New Jersey

Insights from Practicing Physicians

Every doctor knows that for a treatment to be effective, an accurate diagnosis first must be made- not of the symptoms- but of the disease process causing the symptoms. For therapy to be effective, the treatment must be carefully targeted - and eliminate the cause. The cause of today’s US health care crisis is not “too little government”. It is “too much government” - and the wrong kind.

We write this letter to you and the other readers of this newspaper to express our *alarm* regarding the President’s new health insurance law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) known as ObamaCare.

We urge you to vote for candidates like Mitt Romney and Tom Smith who have vowed to repeal it and replace it with reform plans that evict the government from our medical offices and examination rooms.

SENIORS: Alarming Problems Made Life Threatening

There is already a looming doctor shortage of more than 100,000 physicians in the next ten years. Many of you on Medicare are already facing difficulty finding a doctor. Now it will become far worse.

The law takes $716 billion out of Medicare over 10 years to help fund a huge expansion of taxpayer subsidies for health coverage. Drastic , below-cost, Medicare cuts will force increasing numbers of doctors and hospitals to drop Medicare or unable to accept new Medicare patients.

Universal coverage is meaningless if you have to wait months for an appointment or can not find a doctor at all.

ObamaCare Fails its Primary Goal - Universal Coverage

For these and many other reasons, the physicians who signed this letter and thousands more across the nation believe that the PPACA (ObamaCare) must be repealed. It is dangerous to your health and the financial health and well being of this country.

It must be replaced with patient-centered (not bureaucrat-centered) reforms which will preserve the patient-physician relationship, and enhance high quality, affordable health care.

Detailed, alternative economically sound, responsible reform plans are available and would achieve these goals, but the law must be first over-turned by removing President Obama and all of his other supporters of this dangerous law from elected office and paving the way for real reform.

Some of the Worst ObamaCare Rumors are True

“Bureaucrats & Non-Physician Panels Dictate Health Care Policy” When fully implemented, ObamaCare will create a myriad of new federal boards, agencies, commissions and panels - 159 and counting- to over-see and which can over-rule our medical judgement and affect your care.

“Death Panels that withhold care from too old or too sick” The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB): 15 unelected bureaucrats (who do not have to be medical professionals), will be tasked with reducing Medicare spending, mostly by determining payment cuts for seniors’ care. These determinations cannot be challenged except by Congressional action, thereby making health care a political football every election, since their rulings will determine what procedures and care Medicare will fund – and, more importantly, what it will NOT fund.

After passing a 2,000 page law, writing over 12,000 pages of regulations (so far), and spending trillions of dollars over the next decade, the Government Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that 26 million Americans will still not have coverage.

Doctors & Politics Don’t Mix

Doctors don’t spend 13 years or more training to treat patients to offend half with our politics. Most of us have been silent.

Mountains of government regulations and restrictions piled on relentlessly over the past 50 years have driven up the prices of medical services, and the cost of health insurance beyond the affordable range for many. Most of us have been silent.

They have created protected monolithic in-state monopolies of third party payer companies employing armies of life time government and pseudo-governmental paper-pushing middlemen: billers, coders, and auditors who add to the cost, but not the quality of our medical services as doctors. Most of us have been silent.

The miracle of modern American medicine is directly tied to the miracle of America. The same freedoms that made the microwave oven, the iPad, and the internet created an enviroment that made American medicine the envy of the earth.

The free market combined with our hippocratic oath brought health outcomes to America that still draw the sick from around the world and fuel our armies of compassion with therapies and cures across the globe.

Silent No More...

The Democrats in this season of America’s political life will not listen to the Physicians actually practicing medicine.

Your Doctors have come together - an unprecedented action - to ask our patients to vote them out of office - before it’s too late.

We are asking you to vote ONLY for candidates that pledge to repeal ObamaCare.

For this election we are asking you to vote for:

Mitt Romney for President

Tom Smith for Senate in PA

Doctors are silent no more. We urge all those who read this letter to vote for candidates who have promised to repeal ObamaCare.

As your physicians, we wish you the best and the wisdom to choose wisely in the upcoming election. Your health and the future of this country depend on it.

Doctors Orders - Vote Romney & Smith to Repeal ObamaCare