This week’s health policy news roundup curated by Jane Orient, M.D.
New York University professor of medicine Marc Siegel writes that ObamaCare “built another bloated, self-justifying bureaucracy that makes the insurance companies richer and the doctors and patients poorer.” He spends half his time on computer documentation and other administrative hassles. ObamaCare isn’t working, even with subsidies. http://nypost.com/2015/03/09/obamacare-stinks-even-with-subsidies/
While on the law’s fifth anniversary, Obama pronounced his signature law “a success beyond his wildest dreams,” ludicrously claiming that every prediction critics made has been proven wrong, Guy Benson provides real-world data showing the disasters. http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2015/03/24/obamacare-anniversary-n1974949
Although 14 million more people are said to be insured under ObamaCare, “the proportion of people of all ages with a ‘usual place to go for medical care’ was 87.8 percent last year, the same as it was in 2002-2003. Further, 5.7 percent reported that they failed to obtain needed medical care due to cost last year, the same as it was in 2003-2004.” New patient visits by Medicaid beneficiaries are barely increasing. John Goodman writes: “My own view is that the importance of health insurance has been enormously exaggerated by the health policy community.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoodman/2015/04/02/are-people-getting-more-care-or-better-care-under-obamacare-no/print/
ObamaCare still can’t get enrollment right. The California Exchange, supposed to be the model for the nation, is plagued by incompetence and mismanagement, despite the infusion of $1 billion from federal taxpayers. Covered California’s retention rate (65%) is among the lowest in the nation. Of 500,000 new enrollees predicted for this year, only about 7,000 showed up. It’s an “unaccountable monster.” http://dailysignal.com/2015/04/20/incompetence-mismanagement-plague-californias-obamacare-insurance-exchange/
There will likely be pressure for more States to set up Exchanges. But voters don’t want to live in an ObamaCare state. http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2015/04/02/new-poll-confirms-voters-dont-want-state-obamacare-exchanges/
One thing about ObamaCare likely to endure is the massive $800 billion tax hike. http://dailysignal.com/2015/04/06/obamacares-800-billion-tax-hike-explained-one-chart
It could be worse, writes Betsy McCaughey. We could still get HillaryCare. http://betsymccaughey.com/how-hillary-could-make-obamacare-worse/
Seen on Social Media:
It has become perhaps the silliest four letters in healthcare: "PQRS" http://t.co/vSGal691me
#PQRS #CMS #MIPS pic.twitter.com/20oJGuCXYT
— Rocky D. Bilhartz MD (@BilhartzMD) April 24, 2015
"Taking Back Medicine" http://t.co/ae0TlZkzAh via @BilhartzMD pic.twitter.com/hpEM4l9S2R
— Rocky D. Bilhartz MD (@BilhartzMD) April 20, 2015
People deserve real health care, not pseudo-insurance http://t.co/QS8FFKadoX
— Kevin Pho, M.D. (@kevinmd) April 20, 2015
