Posted on 10/19/2010 10:07:29 AM PDT by neverdem
If ObamaCare really called for the creation of "death panels," the first victim of these in vented tribunals would have been Marcus Welby MD, the character in the hit 1960s television show that followed the daily dramas of a small-town family doctor.
The health legislation doesn't call on government tribunals to euthanize seniors, as some fanciful critics claim, but the bill does kill off private-practice medicine.
ObamaCare envisions that doctors will fold their private offices to become salaried hospital employees, making it easier for the federal government to regulate them and centrally manage the costly medical services they prescribe. To get this control, ObamaCare creates "Accountable Care Organizations," which are basically hospitals coupled with local doctor networks that the hospital owns.
Under ObamaCare, an ACO is supposed to take "accountability" for local Medicare patients, who in turn get most care from providers working inside the ACO's network. To encourage efficiency and cost-cutting, an ACO can share in the savings it achieves from more closely managing its assigned pool of patients. The idea is to give doctors a financial incentive to better coordinate care and reduce their use of costly medical services.
The ACO concept was coined in 2006 by the same Dartmouth health researchers who famously found that higher Medicare spending doesn't correlate with better medical outcomes. Their data was controversial. Some experts refuted the findings. Even so, it became the intellectual foundation for ObamaCare's vision of "bending the cost curve" -- that you can improve medical outcomes by cutting Medicare spending. The ACOs have become Washington's most fashionable vehicle for pursuing that prophecy.
In many ways, the ACO concept builds on the 1990s approach to "capitation," in which health-maintenance organizations gave doctors a lump...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
All of them.
Then there is the liberal excuse that the failed program was underfunded.(Its is rare that liberals admit that a program has failed. It only needs enhancement.)
Just say, "NO!" to central planning.
My Dad was a veterinarian in a small town (well, actually big town by Wyoming standards) when I was born. He had an agreement with the sole M.D. in town that they would look after each other's patients if one was not available or out of town for some reason.
Libtards have no idea that such situations actually exist. Their "solution" would be for people in places like this to drive 100 miles (or more) to the nearest city to get needed services in a glorious hospital staffed with unionized government employees. Then add a tax on them for excess driving. Too bad if the patient expires during the long trip. They should have moved to the city.
SEIU wants to unionize health care workers to increase their member rolls. More union members, more $$$, more votes for Dems = more power for them.
We The People do not have to stand for this; repeal, repeal, repeal and keep throwing the bums out until they do what they were sent to DC to do; salvage our country from the enemies within.
If not, bend over and kiss your rear goodbye as the Ruling Class ships you to one of their camps aka Hospice Centers by dictate of the government.
What a &#^@) STUPID article. Medicare, Medicade and the Great Society Killed the “Marcus Welby MD” type MDs. Oh and by the way MW MD practiced Medicine in Santa Monica, CA HARDLY a “small town”.
The author is a liar. The legislation vests the Secretary of Health and Human Services with deciding how services are delivered, and for deciding what services are deliverable, and to whom they may be delivered. The only socially accepted method of deciding such things thus far have been insurance panels. Give these committees the power of government, and voila: death panels.
If Sebelius (may all the aborted babies from Kansas during her reign of terror haunt her dreams) decides to vest power over these decisions in individuals instead of committees, then we'll have death tyrants, instead of panels.
Visiting friends in Alabama, their son is home from Colorado..where they have a 3 tier health system, poor, good, caddy. This is where we are heading.
“...which are basically hospitals coupled with local doctor networks that the hospital owns.”
Which apparently is the situation developing here in Minnesota. I have been finding some indications of micromanaging of late, with cookie cutter decision making, lack of original thinking, and the like.
Example: At 55 y.o., I have been getting flack for not being on a “structured exercise program”. Never mind the fact that I participate in USCF bicycle races, with training managed by a USCF (United States Cycling Federation) licensed coach. Bicycle racing, even at an amateur masters level, is a hard sport. Doesn’t matter, everyone my age is supposed to be on some lowest common denominator supervised program. Original thinking is going out the window. And this pre-dates the passage of Obamacare, it is something that has crept into the culture of the medical profession.
Hospitals are continuing to acquire practices and hire physicians. However, this trend will eventually flatten. Sooner or later, providers will unionize and this will substantially reduce productivity while simultaneously increase costs. Newly minted providers hired by the hospital will also be less productive than their older replacements. With lower salaries comes the expectation of easier working conditions. Productivity gains will be difficult as medical care is difficult to outsource to other countries (they could import providers as in the UK and other nations).
I believe that the statists envision that the hospitals, along with insurance companies will become the rationing proxies for the government. The hospital will attempt to capture and manage this patient population to optimize profits by responding to government incentives. However, like hotels outsourcing various functions to contractors, hospitals may find that it would be cheaper to outsource management of significant patient populations to specialists and larger independent provider groups. Because doctors understand medical risk best by virtue of their training, doctor groups may become the preferred rationing mechanism.
These trends will continue especially in the government insured sector. Medicaid patients will be the first guinea pigs. However, the private sector, if it can survive, offers the greatest potential for innovation, quality and competitive prices.
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