Defensive medicine: how to survive ObamaCare.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

First, Chief Justice John Roberts rewrites the ObamaCare legislation in order to side with the four liberals on the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the individual mandate. Then GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, a moderate technocrat, failed to make the case with the electorate to change course, largely because he was unable to challenge ObamaCare effectively, according to Richard Amerling, associate professor of clinical medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and director of Outpatient Dialysis at Beth Israel Medical Center.

These are desperate times that require desperate measures, he asserts. There simply is no way that greatly expanded Federal control over medicine will be anything but a disaster, Amerling warns. Central planners will tighten their grip using price controls and other heavy-handed means of "cost control" that inevitably will mean shortages and rationing.

To understand how this happens, one need Look no further than the hours-long lines to get gasoline in New York and New Jersey during early November.

These were a direct result, not of Hurricane Sandy, but of the strict "anti-gouging" laws in these states that prevent retailers from raising prices in response to scarcity. Higher prices will signal suppliers to overcome barriers to deliver more supply. Gas lines would have vanished overnight with the suspension of price controls. In medicine, price controls on doctors and hospitals will mean shortages of both, Amerling insists.

To assure continued access to a personal physician, concerned Americans immediately should seek out and contract with a direct-pay or concierge doctor, he implores. This is even more important if you have significant medical problems. You will not get the care you need in Medicaid or an "Accountable Care Organization," the latest version of managed care.

Doctors also strongly should consider opting out of Medicare and other major third-party payers, as...