Washington Post: Obamacare's Limits on Doctors Will 'Make People Furious'

Washington Post health care reporter Sarah Kliff said Monday that the next wave of Obamacare outrage will hit as Obamacare enrollees discover that their choice of doctors and hospitals is about to shrink dramatically. 

“Obamacare’s narrow networks are going to make people furious – but they might control costs,” wrote Kliff. 

Narrowing a network means limiting patient choice of doctors and hospitals in an effort to cut costs. A McKinsey and Co. study says that 38% of Obamacare plans allow patients to choose from only 30% of the 20 largest hospitals in their geographic regions, with another 32% leaving patients 31%-70% of these.

Even Obamacare supporter Timothy Jost, who writes for Health Affairs, concedes Obamacare enrollees will be “unhappy to learn that their doctors are not available and shocked to discover charges from out-of-network specialists when they go to in-network hospitals.”

The controversial Obamacare program remains overwhelmingly unpopular; the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls finds just 40% of Americans support President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement. 

Obamacare will cost U.S. taxpayers $2.6 trillion over the next ten years.