Out-of-control government spending and the implementation of Obamacare have spurred Chad Mathis, MD, to change his career focus. In an effort to fight legislation that he believes is destroying our country, Mathis has made a decision to put his orthopedic practice on hold to run for Congress. In November 2014, he will run for the seat in Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District currently held by Rep. Spencer Bachus.
A small business owner, Mathis is a managing partner of Alabama Bone and Joint Clinic in Pelham. A specialist in orthopedic sports medicine, he has been a team physician for multiple professional sports teams and has been practicing medicine for a decade. His medical practice was the culmination of a dream to work hard, build something, and then pass it on to his children. Because of Obamacare, that dream now is under attack.
“I have read the Obamacare law and believe it is the wrong approach for America’s health care system. It is a bad law and we definitely need to repeal it,” he says. “It is bad for individuals and it’s bad for American families because it contains government-centered reforms, not patient-centered reforms. We have to focus on the individual, and the individual marketplace is the way to allow physicians and patients to make their own health care decisions.”
Mathis says the law is all about power for one person – the Secretary of Health and Human Services – and is not about health care. He believes this legislation will destroy the economic freedom in our country. “Promises were made that if you liked your doctor you could keep your doctor. The Democrats also said if you currently had health insurance, the cost would go down. We now know these promises are not true,” he says. “In Alabama, 90,000 people are losing their health insurance that the President promised they could keep. They are having to purchase different, more expensive plans. I want to take my real-world experience as a successful business owner and a doctor to Washington to influence health care policy and to help get spending under control.”
A recent decision by Democrat Senate majority leader Harry Reid to exempt some of his staff from the Obamacare exchanges is an example of the type of power abuse that Mathis wants to stop. “This is a true example that shows that the “one percent” in this country is the political ruling class in Washington. They take what they want,” he says. “They take freedoms from the people through their coercive power of the federal government. I want to see us return to the freedoms we have enjoyed in the past in all aspects of our economy and to return the power to the individuals and away from the government. That’s what makes this country great.”
Mathis is an advocate of health savings accounts (HSAs), because they allow patients to make their own health care decisions and because they are portable. “Patients control health care dollars and their health care with HSAs. I believe this is the best way to establish patient-centered reforms,” he says. “When Obamacare collapses – and it will – we will need a plan to move forward and we need physicians in Congress who will be able to enact legislation that centers on the patient. Expanding HSAs will offer patients the freedom to control their own health care. The doctor and patient will communicate directly about what is of value to the patient. It is the individual who is in control. I want to take away the penalties that have been in place and expand the opportunities of HSAs for patients as we move forward in 2015.”
Mathis also wants to work with Congress to address Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) which affects Medicare’s payment system. “I am also worried about changes to scope of practice and how that relates to making sure patients get the best care.”
Common sense reforms like allowing people to purchase health plans across state lines, like with car insurance, or allow businesses to bundle plans together to get a lower rate should have been included in Obamacare, Mathis says. “The focus should have been on the patient and bringing down the cost of health care, not creating a massive government bureaucracy,” he says. “Congressman Tom Price of Georgia, currently the only orthopedic surgeon in the House of Representatives, has a plan called the Empowering Patients First Act which has the kind of patient-centered reforms our country’s health care system needs.”
Mathis is the son of a blue-collar worker and a nurse’s aide, and he is an example of how an individual can succeed in a country where individual freedoms exist. Growing up in a working class family and attending Christian and public schools taught him that he could have a better life through hard work and a good education. He was the first person in his family to finish college.
Mathis attended medical school at Indiana University and later came to Alabama because of his grandfather who was born and raised here. His grandfather was the person who shaped Mathis’ love for the state and for its people. Mathis’ concern for his fellow Alabamians and Americans is why he wants to go to Washington to defeat Obamacare, which he calls “the biggest issue of our generation.” As a candidate, he has already begun the process by starting a petition for all the people who have been hurt by Obamacare. Handsoffourhealthcare.com is a place where people can share their stories, and Mathis will deliver the petition to the White House on March 31, 2014, the date the individual mandate will go into effect.
“We need physicians in Congress – they are the only ones who understand how these health care changes will affect the doctor-patient relationship. It will be important for physicians to get involved in my campaign, because this is our last chance to stop Obamacare which is going to destroy our health care system. Doctors can make a difference by investing in my efforts and making their voices heard in Washington about the changes happening to our health care.”
