Active Forum Topics | Getting Started | Interviews | EMR Forum | Medical | Billings | Press & News | Voice Recognition | The Water Cooler
Please post recent news about ObamaCare.
Mid-June Democratic Health-Care Reform Proposal
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090619-713675.html
Not enough primary care doctors.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061903583.html
State and Regional Insurance Co-ops emerging as an alternative plan in Washington.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090623/hl_time/08599190610500
I don't get it... can't anyone form a "health co-op" now? In fact, my BCBS "group" plan is a type of co-op.
What Obama-big-socialist-government wants to do is to throw more money at poverty, as if we can afford it, coming out of this recession. He's unbelievable and I hope that Congress can tie him up long enough to prevent the economy from relapsing again into a downhill spiral.
Read this paragraph:
"But apart from Group Health and Health Partners, the history of nonprofit HMOs is littered with failures. In the 1990s, a similarly set-up nonprofit HMO in the Washington, D.C., area called Group Health Association was forced to sell itself to Humana, a private insurance company, after its finances deteriorated to the point of insolvency. GHA, which had about 130,000 members, was plagued by falling membership rolls, strikes by staff doctors and nurses and competition from other HMOs. Before being acquired by Humana, GHA even tried to transform itself into a for-profit HMO to stop the bleeding. A partnership between two nonprofit HMOs in New York, Group Health Inc. and Health Insurance Plan of New York, is currently seeking state approval to do the same thing - turn itself into a for-profit company to raise capital."
Al
Al Borges, M.D.
OBAMACARE
$1 trillion health care bill soon ready for vote.
Washington is happy about this bill because they finally brought the price tag down to $1 trillion.
How did they do it? It was an easy decision -- to cut the reimbursement rates of physicians!
"pare back a planned 10-year series of rate increases for doctors serving Medicare patients."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090626/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul
When Obama bailed out CITI Bank, they stopped employee bonus pay. But CITI just anounced they will get around this by increasing base pay by 50%. How would it be, to declare yourself a 50% pay increase? Doctors are being treated like school teachers. No respect.
Ingenious. They ragged on poor old President Bush about his idea to cut Medicare spending, but if "the annointed one", Obama, does it, then everything is fine. They will also save from the $20 billion allocated to HITECH since there won't be any doctors wanting to see Medicare patients anymore.
At least count me out!
We all want to live forever and want to be totally pain free for our lives. The problem is this ideal costs money and its increase has no limit, limiting it is to limit life.
No politician will say it, but the only way to realistically contain costs is to limit access, limit life. Britain and Canada do it with wait times. The US does it by denying health care to the working poor. Most of Europe has a combination of the two.
There is only one real way for the US to provide better health care for the uninsured, higher taxes. It can be done in the short term through inflation (spending without corresponding income) but the long term effect of all this spending will be devastation of the US economy through inflation.
Canada tried it in the 70's and drove its dollar down to 60 cents US in the 80's from $1.10 US through inflation. High taxes solved the problem in the 90's with severe limits on healthcare spending. The bright side is eventually it made the Canadian economy more competitive in the 00's, but it still has lots of problems of research and innovation to overcome. Canada is poised to have a very solid economy in the 10's - 50 years where healthcare almost destroyed the country and every election was fought on it.
The current US administration thinks we can pay for this Stimulus spending through increased efficiency. The problem with saving money as a solution is getting the first 10% saving may be easy but the next 10% is more difficult because the saving has to be found in an increasing smaller pie.
Unfortunately, the ride is over, too much money is being spent, run away inflation is only a few years away and there is no realistic healthcare solution.
Medscribbler Getting you there sooner!
Scriptnetics
866-350-6337
All doctors will be mandated to participate in the National Health Plan.
Union members who supported Obama's election won't be subject to health care taxes
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Union-workers-would-be-exempt-from-Dem-health-care-tax_06_23-48810402.html
Some states are making attempts not to be forced into National Health Care system. Some are threatening to succeed from the Union as they can do this per their State Constitution.
http://www.examiner.com/x-4805-Arizona-Rural-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m6d27-National-health-care-nullification--AZ-HCR2014
July 1st update:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-Dem-health-plan-has-apf-3366298090.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=
Obama outlines how doctors will be paid.
http://www.examiner.com/x-10183-DC-Health-Care-Examiner~y2009m7d2-ObamaCare-reforms-how-doctors-are-paid
Heritage Foundation Review
1) Doctors will only be paid Medicare rates + 5%. This will be the competition to other insurance companies who pay much more than 5%.
2) Buy employees health insurance or pay 8% tax on payroll
http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm2515.cfm
Other form of payment being discussed for national healthcare....
Reducing the amount of money paid to hospitals when caring for poor people.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/White-House-hospitals-reach-apf-4134590509.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
I think that we all need to take one of these...
I hope that those that voted for the "anointed one" (Obama) rethink their voting priorities... Your vote DOES MATTER! BTW, Obama's approval rating is now a -5 and falling precipitously. URL: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/obama_approval_index_history
Rationing .... http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dot.comments/2009/07/how_health_care_is_rationed.html?hpid=topnews
Obamacare = medical expenses are cheaper for dead patients
Al, generic fluoxetine...not brand name!!