Posted on 09/25/2013 7:10:28 AM PDT by 11th_VA
Perspective
ObamaCare Making Doctor Shortage Crisis Even Worse
By SALLY C. PIPES
Posted 09/24/2013 06:40 PM ET
America’s doctor shortage is quickly becoming a crisis. No less than 14 states have introduced legislation or created new programs to deal with the problem.
The Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the country is currently short 20,000 doctors. Over the next decade, that number could quintuple.
And ObamaCare is only making things worse. Physicians are responding to the health reform law’s intrusive regulations and insufficient payments by treating fewer patients — or even abandoning the medical profession altogether.
One cornerstone of ObamaCare is its expansion of Medicaid, the jointly run federal-state health insurance program for the poor.
Starting in 2014, the program will cover all Americans with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level. The federal government will absorb 100% of the cost of this expansion through 2016, and then a declining share in subsequent years, until the feds’ responsibility rests at 90% in 2020. By then, some 12 million people will have gained coverage anew through Medicaid.
But the program is already dysfunctional. Reimbursement rates are so low — about 60% of the rate paid by private insurers — that doctors routinely refuse to see Medicaid patients. A recent study published in Health Affairs found that 33% of doctors did not accept new Medicaid patients in 2010 and 2011.
By throwing millions more people into the program without raising Medicaid payment rates, ObamaCare will make it even harder for patients covered by the program to secure care.
The story is much the same for the government’s other big health program — Medicare. More than 9,500 doctors opted out of treating Medicare patients in 2012. That’s almost triple the number that abandoned Medicare in 2009.
According to American Medical Association President Dr. Ardis Hoven, “While Medicare physician payment rates have remained flat since 2001, practice costs have increased by more than 20% due to inflation, leaving physicians with a huge gap between what Medicare pays and what it costs to care for seniors.”
Unsurprisingly, ObamaCare will exacerbate the problem. The law creates a new government entity — the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) — charged with ensuring that Medicare hits designated spending targets...
Good, now let’s ask George Hamilton what to think of the Sunshine Laws.
Translation: Our staffers will continue to receive the same excellent health care coverage at the cost of the taxpayers. So the premiums go up? So what.
They should be less worried about their staffers opinions of them than Americas as a whole.
Reminds me of cops giving cops an escort home instead of a DUI- a ‘professional courtesy’.
This is why we’ll never have a flat tax- everyone will get ‘their people’ an exemption,deduction waiver or exclusion. And people wonder why the ruling class (Congress) have around an 8% approval rating.
The way I understand it is Congress is to get a little extra money to subsidize their required participation in Obamacare,,to offset the expense. ...Grassley’s ammendment was just a mention embedded in Obamacare saying that Congress would not be exempt from Obamacare basically,,and that made some Congress critters like Reid and Boxer VERY nervous. Vitter wanted to strip Congress of the extra subsidy so Box and Reid started trying to silence Vitter by dredging up an old prostitution scandal. It just made Vitter angrier. Reid and Boxer were still so nervous about the subsidies getting pulled that they had Obama fix it. According to John Fund at NRO, in an article dated Sept 16 this year, Congress used the aides as the shield saying
“Under behind-the-scenes pressure from members of Congress in both parties, President Obama used the quiet of the August recess to personally order the Office of Personnel Management, which supervises federal employment issues, to interpret the law so as to retain the generous congressional benefits.
OPM had previously balked at issuing such a ruling. Even without OPM, Congress could have voted to restore the subsidies or ordered a salary raise to compensate for the loss of benefits, but that would have been a messy, public process, which everyone wanted to avoid.”
Basically, Congress could have voted itself a raise to offset the costs personally,,but they new that would NOT fly with the public,,,so they quietly lobbied Obama to keep the subsidies in place.
So techinically, they are required to participate,,but they have made sure that expense is covered without any pain from their pockets.
Now they are trying to clarify the dirty deed they did in secret......and it’s a bit difficult for them,,,,
I love it!
The way I understand it is Congress is to get a little extra money to subsidize their required participation in Obamacare,,to offset the expense. ...Grassley’s ammendment was just a mention embedded in Obamacare saying that Congress would not be exempt from Obamacare basically,,and that made some Congress critters like Reid and Boxer VERY nervous. Vitter wanted to strip Congress of the extra subsidy so Box and Reid started trying to silence Vitter by dredging up an old prostitution scandal. It just made Vitter angrier. Reid and Boxer were still so nervous about the subsidies getting pulled that they had Obama fix it. According to John Fund at NRO, in an article dated Sept 16 this year, Congress used the aides as the shield saying
“Under behind-the-scenes pressure from members of Congress in both parties, President Obama used the quiet of the August recess to personally order the Office of Personnel Management, which supervises federal employment issues, to interpret the law so as to retain the generous congressional benefits.
OPM had previously balked at issuing such a ruling. Even without OPM, Congress could have voted to restore the subsidies or ordered a salary raise to compensate for the loss of benefits, but that would have been a messy, public process, which everyone wanted to avoid.”
Basically, Congress could have voted itself a raise to offset the costs personally,,but they new that would NOT fly with the public,,,so they quietly lobbied Obama to keep the subsidies in place.
So techinically, they are required to participate,,but they have made sure that expense is covered without any pain from their pockets.
Now they are trying to clarify the dirty deed they did in secret......and it’s a bit difficult for them,,,,
I love it!
Hear, hear! Cripplecreek nails it.
Where Have You Been,Bill???????????????????????????????
Who is The Republican SenatorGeorgia)Who Was Bitching And Moaning That While He Only Makes $172,000 per-year,His Staffers(Half His Age)Will Soon Be Over On”K”Street(Lobbyists)Pulling Down $500,000 Per-year?He Should Get a”Special Award”For “Telling The Truth While In Office”!!!!
He’s campaigning AGAINST the political class being exempted from Bammycare.
He’s not complaining about his salary (as Politiho would like you to believe)
Fat chance of it happening:o(
No kidding. A little lunch, a little nap, a little snack, a few minutes' reading, a little nosh, a few calls from K Street, a little popcorn and a glass of wine while looking over this ghost-written speech, stretch out on the couch for a little CNN, a dish of jelly beans (he knew Reagan!) on the coffee table, an unplanned two-hour nap, let's wash up and go gamble till 10 p.m., okay so it's 11, order up some prime rib honey, and a rack of lamb to split between us, couple of pie and ice creams, three B&B's on the rocks, aw one more---no make it two---chocolate mousses to tamp it down, what's that you say honey about Congress and their staffs and Obamacarezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
That right there is funny, and exactly how I imagine it.
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