As more key elements of the nation's health care reform plan roll out, critics are escalating efforts to have Congress reconsider it -- or repeal it.
Saturday afternoon, conservative doctors will gather San Diego for a "Tea Party" rally to boost that cause.
Physician groups such as Docs4PatientCare are leading the charge against what they call "Obamacare", looking for a political power shift in November that might boost their cause.
"The majority of polls the last year, physicians, Americans in general are opposed to the (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) Obamacare legislation," says Adam Dorin, a San Diego anesthesiologist who's organized the healthcare rally.
"It sort of tends to act in a way that will decrease the influence of physicians over time," Dorin said in an interview Friday, "and promote non-physician 'extenders' -- nurses, PA's, techs performing the roles of doctors."
Dorin expects a large turnout of "white coats", perhaps upwards of 1,000.
"You're looking at over 500,000 doctors in the United States who have come out against Obamacare, PPACA. They feel their story didn't get told.
"What we want to do is get this legislation repealed, and come up with a better product."
Politics
But political observers see that as a long shot, at least over the next Congressional term.
"I mean, how they can get that passed? Even if they were a majority in the House, you'd still have a divided Congress," said David Gregory, moderator of NBC News' "Meet the Press", in a satellite interview Friday from Washington, D.C.
"What is it they see as the healthcare alternative to what the President and Congress have passed?" Gregory added. "That debate, I think, will be very interesting."
Dorin says the "elephant in the room" that still needs addressing is tort reform.
The doctors' rally, open to the public, runs from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at Spanish Landing East Park on North Harbor Drive.
One scheduled keynoter is Sharron Angle, the Nevada Republican who's challenging the re-election bid of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
