“Despite the fact that the three-judge appeals court panel was comprised entirely of Democratic appointees, he said there was a positive surprise for opponents of the law.”
“An astounding 93 percent of physician group practices surveyed by a key trade organization warned that they would not join a new healthcare reform program to reward quality of care unless it’s thoroughly reworked.”
“Beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act will expand the mandatory population and require that states make Medicaid available to all individuals, married or single, under the age of 65 with incomes at or below 133 percent of poverty. Although the federal government will provide funds for states to cover this newly eligible population, it will increase the fiscal burden on many states, particularly those that do not already cover expanded optional populations.”
“The nation’s highest-profile health care centers—think of the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, Intermountain Healthcare or the Geisinger Health System—are the models for the Obama administration’s accountable care organization (ACO) proposal. But officials at those tightly organized institutions have so many concerns with the proposed rule to create ACOs that they doubt that they will participate.”
“Today, the Fourth Circuit became the first appellate court in the nation to enter the Obamacare fray. It heard two very similar cases back-to-back, Liberty University’s, in which the government won in the district court, and the Commonwealth of Virginia’s, in which Judge Henry Hudson struck down the individual mandate back in December.”
“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aims for a delicate balance that even its champions acknowledge as highly challenging: Making medical services affordable for tens of millions of uninsured Americans, and yet restraining the expenditures needed to vastly expand coverage so that it shrinks, rather than swells, the looming deficits.”
“Thanks to ObamaCare, we’re going to end up subsidizing those folks anyway, through Medicaid. And Medicaid won’t reduce the use of emergency room care, which tends to be far more expensive than regular visits to the doctor. Just the opposite. Expanding coverage, especially through Medicaid, will almost certainly increase the total number of visits to the emergency room. That’s because Medicaid recipients use emergency room services more than any other class of individual.”
“A variety of research shows that Americans enrolled in Medicaid have less access to health care, and when they do receive care, the quality is often inferior to the care provided to other similar patients. This Heritage Foundation paper lays out the research, and shows how Medicaid is failing current enrollees and taxpayers and must be fundamentally reformed. The Medicaid expansion contained in ObamaCare will further weaken the program—hurting those who really need it, as well as unduly burdening the taxpayers who pay for it.”
“The healthcare reform law has had a ‘devastating’ impact on insurance agents and brokers, according to a new survey from the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisers. The group said 75 percent of its members have seen a drop in their commissions since the new law capped the amount of money that insurers can spend on administrative expenses and profits.”
“The real problem, according to a new survey from the American College of Emergency Physicians, isn’t caused by people who don’t have insurance — it’s caused by people who do, but still can’t find a doctor to treat them.
A full 97 percent of ER doctors who responded to the ACEP survey said they treated patients ‘daily’ who have Medicaid (the federal-state health plan for the low-income), but who can’t find a doctors who will accept their insurance.”