Doctor Refuses Patient Because She Has Obamacare

It's time for doctors to swear a new oath: First do no politics.

TUCSON- A Tucson woman in desperate need of a knee replacement won't be getting that knee from the surgeon she wanted. When she called the office to set up an appointment she was told the doctor doesn't see patients who have "Obamacare."

Julie Miller has Blue Cross Blue Shield, which she purchased through the healthcare marketplace. Her plan lists this doctor as a covered provider. So, you can imagine she was shocked to hear the doctor wouldn't see her because of where she got her plan.

"I said, isn't Dr. Martin a Blue Cross Blue Shield provider? I thought he was? And she said, well he doesn't like Obamacare. And so he won't accept your insurance. That was pretty surprising to me," said Julie Miller.

News Four Tucson called the office twice to corroborate Julie's story. An appointment scheduler confirmed this doctor does not accept "Obamacare" patients.

Dr. David Martin did not want to answer any questions. Blue Cross Blue Shield says his reimbursement rate would be the same regardless of where the plan is purchased so Julie thinks this is a political statement.

"I wasn't acceptable to this particular doctor and I kind of felt bad!," said Miller.

There is a small, physician-led resistance movement to Obamacare. One of its leaders has roots in Arizona. It is not known if Dr. Martin is a member of this group.

Jane Orient, a physician in Tucson, Ariz., says she's never accepted a dollar of third-party medical payments, whether from a government program or a private insurance company. She has a "philosophical and ethical" opposition to the U.S. health care infrastructure, and she's put it into practice for more than 20 years.

But with Obamacare set to take full effect in January, Orient says more and more physicians are joining with her in opting out of a payment system that she describes as co-opted by "insurance cartels" and the nanny state.

Orient is the executive director of the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, a free-market group that claims 4,000 members nationwide, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Paul himself hasn't endorsed physicians pulling out of the third-party system, but he has said that if a "right to health care" is invoked, then doctors could be conscripted against their will.

"It means you believe in slavery," Paul said in a clip from a Senate committee hearing posted by the AAPS YouTube account.

More than half of AAPS members have stopped accepting Medicaid payments, Orient says, though she stresses that they'll still see patients if they either pay for themselves or come to a free charity clinic. A smaller number of her membership is also bucking the private insurance industry, asking for direct payments from customers and telling them to seek reimbursements from their insurers on their own.