My understanding of this issue, and the wording of the Senate bill, is that these will not be "government" doctors. Nor will it be at a "government" facility. It would work very similar to the Canadian system in that certain doctors, presumably only those that want to get certified by the government for this purpose, would be pre-screened and certified by CG/DHS to administer the merchant marine and/or DOT-type physicals on behalf of the government and provide the results to the apprpriate agency. In theory, it could very well be the same doctor that you see now. The FAA already does this with
pilots and has for many years. I really don't see this as being a bad thing and it certainly has to be better than some faceless bureaucrat in WVA deciding your fate without ever laying eyes, let alone hands, on you. If something isn't done fairly soon, and there's one more drug/meds-related Staten Island Ferry wreck or Cota-like incident, the government probably
will start literally crawling up our colons with a microscope in hand. Opinions, anyone?