Posted on 06/29/2012 5:57:37 AM PDT by Lou L
So the seemingly unexplainable happened yesterday, the US Supreme Court upheld Obamacare. Republicans have promised an immediate repeal should they sweep the elections come November, but that's not a slam dunk. It should be, but we know their track record.
If the Republicans don't sweep both Houses of Congress and the White House (including enough votes to avoid a fillibuster in the Senate), what happens next? What can we expect to see with the implementation of this law? Little things, big things...describe it here.
I think that new identification will be coming down the road ASAP. This won't be in the form of a small dossier of papers; it'll be a high-tech, electronic form of ID, containing RFID, and when decoded, will link to all your personal records, including healthcare and financial. God help us if they decide an optional way to ID people is with a cute tattoo stamped on our foreheads!
I think that most smaller companies still offering insurance will pay their fines, and drop their offerings. There won't be any financial incentive for the companies to keep their healthcare plans, and they'll need to drop them to stay competitive. Employees of these compannies will have to seek insurance through government brokerages.
There will be larger companies that still offer plans, but through government requirements and mandates, eventually it will become too expensive to offer plans, and those employees too, will have to seek insurance offered through government plans.
I'd like to think that the plans offered through the government might be tiered in such a way that they could offer "basic" coverage at the lowest possible rate, and offer better coverages to those that could afford it.
There will be a whole new lexicon of terms and challenges to our current understanding of healthcare. There may be a move to a more "military" style of basic care, where triage is practiced. It may be much like the way an inner-city emergency room is today; nurse practioners may be at the door, sending everyone home with a few asprin, for those with less than life-threatening conditions.
Public "clinics" will pop up, and people will have to go there for basic care. Of course, there will be a lot of standing around, a lot of paperwork. Some people will receive remarkably efficient service--most of these people will have some kind of political connection, be tied to some kind of public service job, or will have made a contribution to a re-election campaign.
Medical innovation will eventually slow. Pharma companies will see less and less incentive to develop expensive drugs, though some companies may thrive and get special exemptions to put some products on the market faster. There will be a political side to R&D...if a drug or device is politically popular, it may get to the market sooner, or through less rigorous testing.
Pharmas and Bio-Techs will need to watch their bottom lines closely (as will the government). Exceptional profits will have to mean that a greater percentage of contributions will need to be made. Of course, companies can't give directly to candidates, but they can give "soft money" to causes.
Eventually, demand will overwhelm the system, and rationing will inevitably occur. The "death panels" won't be obvious at first, but we'll see them. They'll never outwardly publish statistics, but if a drug isn't available, or a procedure can't be performed, well...what are you going to do?
The political system will change. Republicans will have to eventually accept the status quo (of a government healthcare system), and defend it, just like Social Security, and other programs. HC will become the "Fourth Rail," and will become untouchable. The Democrats will run on "improving the existing system," which may mean "higher taxes on those who can afford it..." Republicans will run on "improving the system in a fiscally responsible way...one that keeps HC costs low, and gives patients more choices."
Chin up, think of Moochelle in London this week enjoying lobsta and champagne with the Olympic swells
How many illegals fill out a 1040 to report their cash income? Even if they do get a tax ID number, it's only to underreport their income and scam a child tax credit for all their niños, both real and fictional.
OBAMACARE is set up to where they can waive groups or people from the participation. Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human secretary can waive companies or groups from obamacare.
Mitt should say that he is going to appoint an HHS secretary that will waive ALL AMERICANS.
Obamacare and the tax that comes with it would be D.O.A.
OBAMACARE is set up to where they can waive groups or people from the participation. Kathleen Sebelius, Health and Human secretary can waive companies or groups from obamacare.
Mitt should say that he is going to appoint an HHS secretary that will waive ALL AMERICANS.
Obamacare and the tax that comes with it would be D.O.A.
Private health insurance companies are not going away. They will now get govt subsidies and will actually make even more money from this. The govt is throwing money at the insurance companies because the private companies are needed to make this work without the entire system collapsing. So you can keep your private insurance, but don’t expect to get the same services at the price you have been paying.
“What are your thoughts?”
I think you have seen the future, particularly insofar as the political “nuances” are concerned. Particularly so for drug companies, and who will avoid “waits” for care.
Kudos.
If even half of the physicians who have said they will quit practice due to Obamacare make good on their promise there will almost immediately be long waits to see a physician and many clinics will rely more on physician assistants or nurse practitioners. Going to a clinic will more than likely mean a 10 minute visit with a physician assistant or nurse practitioner and a wait of weeks or more to see an actual physician. Hospital ERs will be flooded with people who do not want to wait to see a doctor. Medicare will become almost worthless as many hospitals and doctors will refuse to take or limit the number of new Medicare patients because of low reimbursement. Patients will become aware of new government treatment "guidelines" almost immediately. Medications that are not generic will be very hard to get and many patients will have to settle for less effective older drugs with more side effects solely because they are cheaper. Older adults will be routinely be denied common treatments. Forget about knee or hip replacements or cardiac pacemakers if you are over 75. Cancer in older patients will either not be treated or only minimally treated. NICU facilities will be forced to have death panels to decide which high risk infants will be given treatment. Abortions will be free or mostly free and hospitals be forced to provide them. Many Catholic hospitals will be shut down or sold to private holders adding to the long waits for hospital beds. Healthcare will quickly resemble that in places like the UK.
“What are your thoughts?”
START: My thoughts are this; EVERYTHING the government has taken over has become an over-bloated bureaucracy. IF the “tax” in the form of the fine on us ESCALATES like the price of a postage stamp has done; the government will have us as scared of the enforcing authority as we are now of the IRS - AND - They will get huge judgements on us for non-compliance and take our property. END
(Never mind that little nugget about EVERYTHING the government takes over going BROKE.)
Death panels begin 1/1/13 for Medicare patients. Every Medicare accepting hospital will be insentivized to raise the threshold for admissions/readmissions for certain conditions.
Doctors with the means will retire rather than attempt to work under severely controlled government regulations...especially ones that haven't been issued yet. I would estimate that half of all MDs will leave the profession. Future MDs now in school will be doing some soul searching. All health care workers in the US today will be heavily courted by the SEIU. The SEIU will have already produced 5 or 6 thousand pages of “work rules” for “employers”.
As the government scrambles to provide “care” for of the formerly uninsured, the strain on the already stressed system will bring it to the break point. Already overcrowded ER'S will see enormous increases in patients. Nurse practitioners and Physicians Assistants will become the first line in treatment as MDs become scarce.
Down the road, private insurance companies disappear due to attrition and inability to compete.
All chain drug stores will ultimately be taken over GM style by the government to “streamline the healthcare delivery process”.
You think there are major drug shortages now, wait until some well-meaning bureacratic panel from HHS decides what will be allowed and what will be manufactured.
I could go on
What can we expect?
We can expect forms with boxes that asks you to mark your race, sexual preferences, and legal status. Of course, they will already know your what your religion is and to which political party you belong.
But for damn sure the race and sexual preference boxes will be there.
“Doctors with the means will retire rather than attempt to work under severely controlled government regulations...”
That just means we will have to import our doctors from third world countries.
Chilling, but very good. I think you've really hit on the reality that will become "healthcare."
What can we expect?
Snooping doctors, asking personal questions and putting the replies in a government database.
A huge push to ban guns for “health reasons” after all every gun “Costs the healthcare system money” this you can bet on.
Mandatory checks for compliance with “Doctors orders”
Home health checks, basically snooping around your home to look for anything that could cost the state money.
DMV Style health care, long lines, paperwork, hours and hours of waiting in doctors offices.
Defiantly a new spy chipped ID card, with your whole life history on it.
Massive fines for anything big brother does not like.. smoking, drinking, eating fast food, even once.. boom, instant IRS penalty.
Yeah, its not a pretty picture, some may think this overly dramatic.. but i can assure you in 4 or 5 years it will ALL come to pass and the Sheeple will cheer it in thanks to massive brainwashing.. err i mean TV ads.
No Democrat politician will have that crappy service as they are politcally connected. You & I on the other hand will get worse than average care due to our political affiliation . I also look forward to the lame half hearted half assed attempts by the GOP~e to repeal Obamacare & listen to them piss moan & whine about how abrasive the TEA party types are.
Not “given a waiver” as though they needed the federal government’s permission. No, as I understand it, the Idaho legislature passed and Governor signed into law, a bill proclaiming that basically Idaho does not recognize the health care mandate as valid and that the State of Idaho has exempted the citizens of Idaho from this unconstitutional Federal healthcare mandate.
Aaah, ok. Thank you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.