Blog and News

There are 600,000 physicians in America who care for the 48 million seniors on Medicare. Of the $716 billion that the Affordable Care Act cuts from the program over the next ten years, the largest chunk—$415 billion—comes from slashing Medicare’s reimbursement rates to doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes. This significant reduction in fees is driving many doctors to stop accepting new Medicare patients, making it harder for seniors to gain access to needed care. Here are a few of their stories. 

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As physicians face declining third party payments, comply with expensive government mandates such as electronic medical records and attempt to navigate through burdensome government regulations, it is no surprise that more and more physicians are leaving "private practice" and becoming "employees" of large hospital chains. The benefit to doctors is apparent; more predictable hours and no more need to manage a small business in a ever changing healthcare environment. Unfortunately, this consolidation of physicians within powerful hospital chains is actually driving up the cost of healthcare in many communities around the nation.  

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As we've said all along, competition and patient choice will help bring down the cost of healthcare and improve quality, NOT the new Obama healthcare law with its massive regulations and bureacracies. It's not rocket science folks and has been proven in the other 5/6 of the American economy over the past 236 years. Why should healthcare be any different? LASIK corrective eye surgery, which is not covered by third party payers and their price distortions, is a perfect example of how high technology services have provided great patient satisfaction at prices which continue to fall. Watch this video and learn how simple proposals akin to the D4PC "Prescription" will allow healthcare prices to fall and quality to increase.

Welcome to D4PC "Morning Rounds", your daily review of healthcare news and information from Washington, DC and around the nation. These briefings will keep you up to date on recent developments and our effort to replace the PPACA with patient-centered reforms that protect the doctor-patient relationship and preserve individual freedom of choice.
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"Romney Care 2.0", The Wall Street Journal

D4PC: Massachusetts has the highest costs of medical care in the nation, despite the passage of Romney Care in 2006. This is largely due to lawmakers' focus on expanding access rather than reducing costs. Sound familiar? Now with a state budget that has 54% of revenues going to healthcare, a desperate governor and state legislature are taking over the practice of medicine in Massachusetts and instituting "price controls" on physicians, healthcare providers and hospitals.

"Under the plan, all Massachusetts doctors, hospitals and other providers must register with a new state bureaucracy as a condition of licensure—that is, permission to practice".

"As the commission polices the market, it can decide to supervise the behavior of any provider that exceeds some to-be-specified individual benchmark—that is, doctors and hospitals that are spending too much on patient care. These delinquents must submit a "performance improvement plan" that the commission must
endorse".

"In other words, the commission is empowered to control the practice and organization of medicine".  

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As the 2012 election draws near, Obamacare rules regarding how an insurance company uses premiums are now forcing these carriers to issue "refunds" to thousands of voters in the next couple months. The timing seems very suspicious to us, however, these "goodies" will be coming to individuals and corporate/small business human resource officers soon. The problem for recipients is that although receiving "money" in the mail is always a pleasant surprise, the fact is it is "your" money and the additional accounting and reporting requirements makes the refund meaningless and actually more expensive for Americans. Alas another failure and unintended consequence of the president's healthcare takeover. 

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Are you having trouble finding a doctor who will see you? If not, give it another year and a half. A doctor shortage is on its way. 

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A year ago, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) changed the rules governing the schedules of medical residents. The new work hours were intended to curb resident fatigue, which the Institute of Medicine (IOM) had previously concluded was contributing to medical errors and accidents. But the new duty hours have actually exacerbated fatigue, jeopardized resident education, and endangered patient care at our nation’s teaching hospitals. 

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This headline should be seriously considered by all Americans. First, with the persistent decline of the US economy, an unprecedented number of unemployed Americans are becoming eligible for Medicaid and will therefore be affected by these new policies. Additionallly, as a direct result of legislation within the Obama healthcare law, more Americans again will come under the control of Medicaid for two specific reasons.

First, with the law's significant expansion of Medicad eligibility, 18-24 million Americans are likely to find themselves in this bankrupt program, some of whom may currently have private coverage. Secondly, due to the employer mandate, many businesses will find it less expensive to pay the "tax" for non-compliance and dump their existing medical insurance plan. This financial decision will leave workers on their own to either enter the Medicaid program or try to find coverage in the tax-payer funded state insurance "exchanges" if one even exists in their state.  

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States that have refused to implement the Obama health law have already blocked $80 billion of its new deficit spending. If more states follow suit, they can block the other $1.6 trillion and force Congress to repeal the law. 

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"In truth, prospects are bleak that you will be able to keep your doctor and even bleaker that there will be enough doctors to meet demand under Obamacare. Physicians say they simply won’t practice under Obamacare rules that strip away much of their autonomy, drown them in bureaucracy, and leave them even more exposed to lawsuits". 

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