Impact of Obamacare

[azbob]

Some of the mouthbreathers here had to wash out their wet panties when Obamacare was upheld but, now we are starting to understand the impact.

Hospitals have been penalized based on their rate of readmission. This is done under the guise of "quality" but is really a way to stop payments for services and fund Obamacare...just another tax.

Here's an example...a patient is discharged from the hospital after a heart attack. He or she is readmitted to the hospital FOR ANY CONDITION, within 30 days...that is a penalty.

The reality of that situation is that people who have heart attacks tend to have other conditions (diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity) that causes them to use more services. Hospitals don't get paid if they return in that 30-day window.

Still not convinced...poor patients tend not to be compliant with drug regimens, aftercare instructions, seeing their private doctor etc. so they tend to be readmitted more. Hospitals that serve these populations will suffer higher penalities. You can expect those hospitals AND DOCTORS to re-examine their ability to serve these populations. Some hospitals are already closing or, in states where it is legal, not building or closing emergecy departments.

Two out of three hospitals are now paying the penalty. Check out the list and consider that the large majority serve urban areas.

Want more...research hospitals tend to take on sicker patients. Those patients tend to return to the hospital more often because they are sicker. Reduce funding for those facilities and they reduce research. You can throw training hospitals into this category too which will be especially impactful as we are facing a shortage of primary care doctors.

Consider this...you got out of the hospital after a heart attack and you feel some discomfort in your chest. When you go to the ED within 30 days of that discharge, just remember the hospital now has incentives to not readmit you. Some of the hospitals with the lowest mortality rate for heart failure are now paying fines for readmitting those heart patients. You figure that out.

 

[Skulnik]

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hV-05TLiiLU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[RAYMOND]

we knew it was one big tax , people need to open there eyes:facepalm:

 

[Duff Miver]

You're such a whiner, azbob.

There is underway an effort to improve the quality of healthcare across all hospitals. As anyone with the most superficial knowledge of quality control knows, you cannot control that which you do not measure.

Perhaps you think US healthcare is just fine as is: Okay, consider this -

While there is ongoing evaluation, most current thinking is that a lifetime exposure to radiation more than about 1000mSv results in a high risk of significant DNA damage and a serious risk of cancer.

Physicians prescribe high dose radiation for diagnostic purposes frequently, and without any accounting for, or knowledge of, that patient's history of exposure to radiation. There is no system in place to monitor, record and report cumulative radiation.

So, your surgeon, who would like a peek inside, orders yet another CT scan with no idea whatsoever that he may be kicking you over the edge into incurable cancer.

Do you have a clue as to your own cumulative radiation dosage? Does your physician? No, you don't.

 

[Duff Miver]

And of course there's this, azbob:

Physicians may own side businesses - imaging centers, for example.

And the physicians who prescribe the most imaging? Surprise, surprise - they're the one who own the imaging centers.

And the physicians who prescribe the most expensive drugs? Surprise, surprise, they're the ones who sell them out of their offices.

And the physicians who insist that name brand drugs are superior to generic drugs? Surprise, surprise, they're the ones who take cash from the drug companies.

 

[theGibber1]

And of course there's this, azbob:

Physicians may own side businesses - imaging centers, for example.

And the physicians who prescribe the most imaging? Surprise, surprise - they're the one who own the imaging centers.

And the physicians who prescribe the most expensive drugs? Surprise, surprise, they're the ones who sell them out of their offices.

And the physicians who insist that name brand drugs are superior to generic drugs? Surprise, surprise, they're the ones who take cash from the drug companies.

Here we go... Talking out of your ass about a subject you know nothing about. You read an article about a few docs whom have taken part in these types of practices and you automatically throw in the entire bunch as greedy bad apples.

I have worked closely with physicians for over 10 yrs. Some I have been friends with for nearly that long and I find none of this to be true.

I have come across maybe 1 or 2 quacks that may do these types of things.. But for the most part doctors have taken an oath that they take very seriously. Whatever is best for their patients comes first. ALWAYS

 

[Lumi]

The amount we have to pay on the medical device tax is more than likely higher than the total yearly salary of 10 to 15 members here.

 

[Duff Miver]

a few docs whom have taken part in these types of practices

I have worked closely with physicians for over 10 yrs. Some I have been friends with for nearly that long and I find none of this to be true.

I have come across maybe 1 or 2 quacks

A few? One or two?

Total bullshit. Tom Coburn has stated on the record that 20% of Medicare claims are fraudulent.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud puts the number at $29 billion per year.

Over the past five years the Medicare Fraud Strike force has charged more than a thousand individuals (mostly physicians).

Last May alone a single operation by the DOJ-HHS strike force charged 107 individuals.

Last year the US Attorney prosecuted over a billion dollars in health care fraud, just in Miami alone.

Sure. most docs are honest, but far, far too many aren't.

Blow those facts out your ass.

 

[Lumi]

A few? One or two?

Total bullshit. Tom Coburn has stated on the record that 20% of Medicare claims are fraudulent.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud puts the number at $29 billion per year.

Over the past five years the Medicare Fraud Strike force has charged more than a thousand individuals (mostly physicians).

Last May alone a single operation by the DOJ-HHS strike force charged 107 individuals.

Last year the US Attorney prosecuted over a billion dollars in health care fraud, just in Miami alone.

Sure. most docs are honest, but far, far too many aren't.

Blow those facts out your ass.

With the radical new diet I am on, it's more than just facts that are blown out of me arse

 

[Duff Miver]

With the radical new diet I am on, it's more than just facts that are blown out of me arse

The beer and burrito breakfast?

 

[azbob]

Gibber, best to not even respond to this moron.

He has given me a new perspective on how idiotic someone looks when they try to comment on topics they either know nothing about or feel they are an expert because someone read an article to them (he has demonstrated that, if he is actually able to read, he cannot comprehend).

Now we each have given him the opportunity to feel good about himself with the upcoming curse laden, nonsensical post.

I won't lower myself to commenting on his job since I don't have his level of expertise in traveling from my basement room to the mailbox once per month to pick-up my disability/welfare check.

Meanwhile, millions of people who have been satisfied with their healthcare services are going to be seeing some dramatic changes in what they pay, access and the choices they have.

 

[The Sponge]

I won't lower myself to commenting on his job since I don't have his level of expertise in traveling from my basement room to the mailbox once per month to pick-up my disability/welfare check.

.

How about some new material from you far right wind bags? Hasn't the Welfare checks jokes run their course yet? You know the one where anyone who disagrees with ya somehow is on welfare and gets gov't assistance? It is old and it is tiresome. Let it go already. Oh and the basement joke? I was hoping that one was already gone.

 

[Duff Miver]

How about some new material from you far right wind bags? Hasn't the Welfare checks jokes run their course yet? You know the one where anyone who disagrees with ya somehow is on welfare and gets gov't assistance? It is old and it is tiresome. Let it go already. Oh and the basement joke? I was hoping that one was already gone.

Good luck getting facts from the azbob. He's a typical tea party dolt who bases his thinking on fantasy, falsehood, imagination, and magical thinking.

 

[Lumi]

The beer and burrito breakfast?

0430 is too early for a burrito :toast:

30 days ago,
I was a slender 215,
my perfect weight if I were 6'4

Yesterday,

I tipped the scales an RCH over 194

Just completely changed my diet,
backed off the red meat, no choke 'n' puke.

No dessert unless it came off a tree or a bush

Very little beer, maybe 4 in the last 30

Down to 12 smokes a day from almost 3 packs a day.

 

[Duff Miver]

if I were 6'4

You're not 6'4"?

I'd pictured you as a young Arnold Schwarzenegger type.:0074

Now you tell me Pee Wee Herman. :facepalm:

 

[Lumi]

You're not 6'4"?

I'd pictured you as a young Arnold Schwarzenegger type.:0074

Now you tell me Pee Wee Herman. :facepalm:

Not quite,

I have the stength, the stamina, the drive, even in this oppressive heat nd high humidity. Not quite as humid as the South, like you have to endure. But dealing with stretches of temps 113+ for 5+ days, then dropping to a cool 105-108 with 50% humidity is brutal. But I still get out twice a day on a road march. 50 lbs in my ruck, 4 miles, 5 days a week. Yet... I still wasn't eating the right food. My trainer put me on a strict diet, and I have stuck to it.

Maybe a squatty and compact Arnold? almost...

And I quit going to nudie booths with a fist full of quarters :toast:

 

[Chadman]

Bob, I don't pretend to understand all the ramifications with the Healthcare Act. I'm sure there will be plenty of downside for many people, just like there is upside for many people. I do like learning about the plusses and minuses - I don't have nearly enough time to study this stuff. I am wondering about one of your comments, though. You said some hospitals are closing. You attribute that to "Obamacare," and this specific scenario being the cause. Can you cite those hospitals or provide a link to info that explains that the way you do?

 

[Duff Miver]

You don't have to guess what the effects of Obamacare will be, and you don't have to listen to dildos like Limbaugh and the azbob. They've had it for years in Massachusetts.

Here's a summation from Forbes, hardly a left wing publication.


http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/01/20/romney-care-massachusetts-healthcare-reform/

 

[azbob]

American Hospitals Association data (the official source) lags by two years so if I quote 2010 data you would rightfully point out this is before the impact of Obamacare.

This article did appear in October 2010:
Mark Hemingway at the Washington Examiner writes:
It looks like it?s not just insurers that suddenly want to get out of the health care business. Three Catholic hospitals in Pennsylvania are now on the market, and the hospital management is telling the local media that Obamacare is a major reason why the facilities are being unloaded." Hemingway adds, "Incredibly, the hospitals are doing well financially, but according to the hospital owners, the new requirements brought on by the new health care legislation makes it hard for them to stay in the hospital business.

Kevin Cook, CEO of Mercy Health Partners, which owns the hospitals, says:
Health care reform is absolutely playing a role. Was it the precipitating factor in this decision? No, but was it a factor in our planning over the next five years? Absolutely.


Because of the data lag, I can't quote current stats therefore, I will have to point out specific facilities and forecasts,

The issue of money:
Nonprofit hospitals are having a tough time getting the cash they need to stay in business and the situation only looks to get worse, according to a report by the credit-rating organization Moody's Investors Service. Access to medical care, especially for the poor and the uninsured who rely on hospitals, hangs in the balance.

Eleven nonprofit hospitals saw their credit downgraded during the first three months of 2012, which makes it harder for them to obtain financing from lenders, Moody's says. Even though an equal number of hospitals were upgraded during the first quarter, Moody's expects downgrades to outnumber upgrades by the end of 2012. (Huffington Post, April 2012)

Catholic Perspective:
Unless the Obama administration?s mandate that all health insurers offer abortifacient drugs and sterilization is rescinded, Catholic hospitals and health care institutions in the United States will be gone in a couple years, said Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago and former head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). (CNSNews, Feb 2012)

Doctors:
Doctors, especially those operating private practices, said their financial hardship is increasing, making it "harder for them to earn a decent living," according to a new survey of 673 physicians across 29 specialties by MDLinx, a medical reference website for physicians.

Among the reasons doctors cited: significant school debt, rising business expenses and administrative hassles, shrinking insurance reimbursements and costly malpractice insurance. (my note: 17% of these doctors said they fear their practice will close within one year) (CNNMoney, June 2012) (my note: Obamacare does not address malpractice rates but, does push 45 million higer risk, less compliant patients into the system).

Emergency Rooms:
(CBS) Americans often take for granted that there's a hospital nearby in case they need urgent medical attention. But with the rising cost of emergency care, that may no longer be the case.

A new study shows that from 1990 to 2009, the number of emergency rooms in the U.S. plummeted from 2,446 to 1,779 - a 27-percent decline. That number includes only ERs in non-rural areas, since rural ERs typically receive federal funding that keeps them open. (HealthPop May 2011)

Let me know what you would like to see specifically and I will attempt to find information from sites or resources I am aware of. I don't see a 2012 comprehensive list of hospital closures so you/I would just have to search for the individual community stories. I know that Scranton, NY, California and Chicago have examples.

 

[azbob]

Duff...you overlooked this part:

We?re Number One

managinghealthcarecosts.blogspot.com/2012/.../were-number-one.ht...

(the chart didn't paste in but, it shows that Mass's costs have risen at a much higher rate than the rest of the US and now has the highest costs in the country)

Today?s Managing Health Care Costs Indicator is One
Click on image to enlarge. Source

The eyes of the nation have been focused on Massachusetts, as the Affordable Care Act is modeled on health care reform in Massachusetts. When it comes to cost, We?re Number One!