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The cure for excessive U.S. medical spending, according to prominent academics as well as Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is called the “30% solution.”
Its basis is the Dartmouth Atlas, produced by the Dartmouth Health Policy Group, whose leaders concluded that “if we sent 30% of the doctors in this country to Africa, we might raise the level of health on both continents.” (more…)
A large part of the savings projected from “healthcare reform” is supposed to come from wider use of information technology. The federal government is expected to “invest” some $45 billion in encouraging (or compelling) doctors and hospitals to use electronic records systems. (more…)
Legislation heavily promoted by the AMA and passed by the House of Representatives, H.R. 3961, would eliminate the 21% scheduled Medicare pay cut for doctors required by the sustained growth rate (SGR) formula. Yearly last-minute reprieves have postponed the cuts year after year; the accumulated 21% is now coming due. (more…)
The Democrat’s reform plans would have a powerful ally—the Roman Catholic Church and its huge network of hospitals—were it not for the perception that plans as currently drafted would permit taxpayer funding of abortions. Without the Stupak Amendment, legislation probably would not have passed the House. A similar battle on amendments is likely to occur in the Senate. (more…)
The growing number of “48 million uninsured” includes perhaps 15 million illegal aliens (Phoenix Business Journal 7/22/09).
Obama’s statement that “ the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally” elicited the notorious “You lie” outburst from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC). (more…)
Calling something affordable, even in the title, doesn’t make it so.
Making somebody else pay the bill doesn’t make it affordable either. A massive redistribution scheme adds costs, and makes the total cost less affordable. (more…)
It all sounds very reasonable: to set priorities, to use the most effective therapies, to serve the neediest first. Rationing is a given, say reform advocates. Insurance companies already do it. Let’s just make it rational and fair.
Some say that Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) isn’t really about rationing. “Nothing in the legislation…provided for payment restriction based on CER findings,” writes Jerry Avorn (N Engl J Med 2009;360:1927-1929). It’s “Orwellian” to suggest such a thing. Anyway, “unaffordability rations care far more than comparative studies ever could.” (more…)
In his address to Congress on health care reform, Barack Obama cited Alabama as a state in which almost 90% of health insurance is controlled by one company. “[A]n additional step we can take to keep insurance companies honest is by making a not-for-profit public option available in the insurance exchanges.”
The “People Before Profits” slogan also reflects the belief that it is not only inefficient and costly but morally wrong to make a profit from providing health insurance or medical care. (Also see Myth 22.)
A reality check on health insurers and profit: (more…)
Medicare is immensely popular, has very low administrative costs, is already a working model,… it is said: Why not just have Medicare for all?
At one time, calling Medicare “socialized medicine for the elderly” caused stunned silence in the Congress. Now, if one opposes “socialized medicine,” at least one listener is bound to dare you to say you’re opposed to Medicare. (more…)