AZ Doc To Close Practice Due to Obamacare « Liveshots

AZ Doc To Close Practice Due to Obamacare « Liveshots: "Arizona physician Joseph Scherzer says he plans to close his office by 2014 unless the new health care law is repealed by Congress or the courts, despite the fact that new health care regulations won’t fully kick in for a few years.

He’s one of several doctors across the country preparing for changes that will greatly impact the way they operate. Earlier this week Dr. Scherzer posted a sign on the front door of his practice that read, “If you voted for Obamacare, be aware these doors will close before it goes into effect, unless Congress or the Courts repeal the bill.'

Dr. Scherzer, who has more than 30 years of experience practicing medicine, told Fox News on Sunday, “We need to be unafraid. This is an important time…many doctors talk about it in the lunch room, but don't do anything. And if there is a chance to speak out, you need to take it.' He went on to urge patients to do the same.

'This bill could really represent the death of professional medicine,” Scherzer said.

He said that if his friends and peers are any indication, most physicians feel the same way. Dr. Scherzer told Fox News “patients need to talk to their doctors and get them to see that now is the time to act.”

Scherzer says his main problem with the new health care regulations stems from the headache of even more government involvement in health care. He points specifically to Medicare reform and his past experiences dealing with Medicare patients -- a process Scherzer has found to be unncessarily complicated and confusing.

For those who think he is doing it because of the money, Dr. Scherzer says, “In my case, it is not a worry about financial loss of income because I voluntarily cut my own income this past year.” He points instead to a fear of “government threats and financial threats of extremely horrendous fines that are present in Medicare if you…diagnose and treat.”

Dr. Scherzer went to Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and has been a practicing Dermatologist in Scottsdale, Ariz., since 1976."