Medical care, politics of medicine

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The Devaluation of The Doctor and Its Effect on The American People

The announcement by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to move 50% of its non-managed care spending into Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and bundled payments coupled with the recent passage of Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (H.R.2) the repeal of the so called ‘doc fix’ will lead to the end of private healthcare, narrow the range of medical services offered by physicians, and increase the cost to patients and taxpayers. There are many truths about The Affordable Care Act that can no longer be denied: It is not affordable; it is not patient centered; it limits access to care; and it has not decreased medical costs. It will become obvious as the law continues to be implemented that It will lead to the end of the independent private physician. The days of the solo practitioner and small group practice are numbered.

Obamacare’s Health Inequality

The two tier system that is being created under the auspices of Obamacare can be broken by following the alternate path of free market medicine which is alive and well and thriving. By removing the insurance company and government middlemen, a patient will find that their costs will drop precipitously. They will once again have their choice of doctor, have the procedures they want, have a quality relationship with their doctor who will be able to spend time with them, and know what their costs are up front. The options are myriad. Each of these strategies provide an option that will give the patient true control of their health care dollar to spend in a system where there is true competition that is driven by innovation, customer service, collegiality and personal responsibility on the one hand instead of cronyism, control and coercion on the other.

A Practicing Physician’s Prescription For A Healthcare Fix

If the government really wanted to expand coverage for 30 million people all they would have had to do was expand Medicaid/Medicare. It would have been a lot cheaper than the cost of blowing up the private insurance market. Empowering independent doctors instead of the hospitals, the insurance companies and Big Pharma would have been a much cheaper fix.

Obamacare Reality Check

When the system is overwhelmed and breaks, as it was intended, the end result will be a complete takeover of the healthcare system by the government as single payer, socialized medicine. There will also be another enormous change in our country. There will be a transfer of wealth, not from the rich to the poor, but instead from the middle class making them dependent on the government.

Obamacare: Smoke And Mirrors

The most ironic part about Obamacare is it will not lead to a significant decrease in those who cannot access meaningful healthcare. People will still not be able to access healthcare either because they can’t find a doctor or they cannot afford to seek treatment. The only difference is they will be forced to pay for the privilege... but maybe that’s the point. Create the problem, wait for the reaction and provide the solution as Harry Reid gleefully admitted – single payer.

An Ode To The Role Of Big Government

In the wake of hurricane Sandy, a vision of the federal government as our savior has emerged. This romanticized vision of the benefits of an ever expanding government taking control to affect everything, from our waistlines, to breast feeding, to mandatory vaccinations, to how we live and die needs to be considered. What price are we paying to allow the government to extend far beyond its role of protecting us from enemies while descending into a nanny state?

Medicare Fact vs. Fiction

The meme of Medicare as the template for universal healthcare as the direction which the country should move because it will provide better, more comprehensive and cheaper healthcare is not true. Welcome to the world of Obamacare were centralized planning applied to medicine places the good of the collective over the rights of the individual who is deemed to be too ignorant to make his or her own healthcare decisions. In short, the answer to healthcare is not more government intervention…it is less.