Medicare

Commentary

Obamacare’s Cruel War On Patient-Centered Healthcare

In just a few weeks, when the calendar flips to 2013, millions of Americans will get their first taste of Obamacare — a $2,500 cap on their flexible spending accounts. That’s down from the previous $5,000 cap — and thus equivalent to a tax hike for any family that had ...
Commentary

A free market will help fix health care

Neurologists are about to feel the sting of the Affordable Care Act. Beginning Jan. 1, Medicare will be paying them less for electrodiagnostic procedures used in identifying and treating a wide range of nerve and muscle disorders. Reimbursement rates for some tests will be slashed by more than 50 percent, ...
Commentary

Obamacare’s Rationers Employ The “It’s Good For You” Defense

Obamacare’s backers have a plan to justify their attempts to ration medicine — by saying that it’s good for you. Through 2019, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare — will allocate some $3.5 billion toward “Comparative Effectiveness Research,” or CER, which pits drug versus ...
Commentary

Obamacare’s doctor depression

Thanks to Obamacare, America’s corps of doctors appears to have a case of the blues. The Physicians Foundation recently asked more than 13,000 doctors about their morale, their career plans, their practices and their views of the Affordable Care Act. The results were grim. Nearly six in 10 doctors said ...
Commentary

NPR Audience Wants End of Life Care Rationed for the Elderly

By centralizing control of health care, Obamacare will cause us to turn on each other to grab bigger pieces of the medical pie. The elderly will be among the first victims, as has already happened in the UK. Recently, NPR held a debate with utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer and an ...
Commentary

Another Broken Obama Promise: The Healthcare Cost Monster Emerges

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article for its special “Election 2012? edition signed by nearly two dozen economists and healthcare experts calling for a “systematic approach” to health cost control. Several of the co-authors used to be advisers to President Obama, including former budget chief Peter ...
Commentary

Medical Students Need Second Opinion About Obamacare

The board can’t make any changes to Medicare’s fee-for-service structure or adjust the benefits seniors receive. That leaves two options for bringing Medicare’s costs into balance. IPAB could cut payments to doctors — or Congress could raise taxes. Reimbursements for doctors are already low. Doctors receive 20% less from the ...
Commentary

ACOs not as popular as government hoped

Despite health reform efforts calling for accountable care organizations, ACOs aren’t growing as fast as the government had hoped, according to Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the public policy think tank Pacific Research Institute. Out of the of the 270 ACOs the Obama administration predicted for this year, only ...
Commentary

Forget About Providers, What Do Doctors Think of Obamacare?

Healthcare providers have long been among Obamacare’s most enthusiastic supporters. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Hospital Association have all spoken out in favor of President Obama’s signature piece of legislation. But their statements of support are proving to be little more than lip ...
Commentary

Viewpoints: With health care put in federal hands, is rationing in our future?

President Ronald Reagan used to tell this story during the Soviet era when government central planners took charge of the economy: A Russian man wants to buy a car. The man goes to the official agency, puts down his money and is told that he can take delivery of his ...
Commentary

Obamacare’s Cruel War On Patient-Centered Healthcare

In just a few weeks, when the calendar flips to 2013, millions of Americans will get their first taste of Obamacare — a $2,500 cap on their flexible spending accounts. That’s down from the previous $5,000 cap — and thus equivalent to a tax hike for any family that had ...
Commentary

A free market will help fix health care

Neurologists are about to feel the sting of the Affordable Care Act. Beginning Jan. 1, Medicare will be paying them less for electrodiagnostic procedures used in identifying and treating a wide range of nerve and muscle disorders. Reimbursement rates for some tests will be slashed by more than 50 percent, ...
Commentary

Obamacare’s Rationers Employ The “It’s Good For You” Defense

Obamacare’s backers have a plan to justify their attempts to ration medicine — by saying that it’s good for you. Through 2019, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — otherwise known as Obamacare — will allocate some $3.5 billion toward “Comparative Effectiveness Research,” or CER, which pits drug versus ...
Commentary

Obamacare’s doctor depression

Thanks to Obamacare, America’s corps of doctors appears to have a case of the blues. The Physicians Foundation recently asked more than 13,000 doctors about their morale, their career plans, their practices and their views of the Affordable Care Act. The results were grim. Nearly six in 10 doctors said ...
Commentary

NPR Audience Wants End of Life Care Rationed for the Elderly

By centralizing control of health care, Obamacare will cause us to turn on each other to grab bigger pieces of the medical pie. The elderly will be among the first victims, as has already happened in the UK. Recently, NPR held a debate with utilitarian philosopher Peter Singer and an ...
Commentary

Another Broken Obama Promise: The Healthcare Cost Monster Emerges

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an article for its special “Election 2012? edition signed by nearly two dozen economists and healthcare experts calling for a “systematic approach” to health cost control. Several of the co-authors used to be advisers to President Obama, including former budget chief Peter ...
Commentary

Medical Students Need Second Opinion About Obamacare

The board can’t make any changes to Medicare’s fee-for-service structure or adjust the benefits seniors receive. That leaves two options for bringing Medicare’s costs into balance. IPAB could cut payments to doctors — or Congress could raise taxes. Reimbursements for doctors are already low. Doctors receive 20% less from the ...
Commentary

ACOs not as popular as government hoped

Despite health reform efforts calling for accountable care organizations, ACOs aren’t growing as fast as the government had hoped, according to Sally Pipes, president and CEO of the public policy think tank Pacific Research Institute. Out of the of the 270 ACOs the Obama administration predicted for this year, only ...
Commentary

Forget About Providers, What Do Doctors Think of Obamacare?

Healthcare providers have long been among Obamacare’s most enthusiastic supporters. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Hospital Association have all spoken out in favor of President Obama’s signature piece of legislation. But their statements of support are proving to be little more than lip ...
Commentary

Viewpoints: With health care put in federal hands, is rationing in our future?

President Ronald Reagan used to tell this story during the Soviet era when government central planners took charge of the economy: A Russian man wants to buy a car. The man goes to the official agency, puts down his money and is told that he can take delivery of his ...
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