Post by AztecWilliam on Nov 21, 2010 22:04:48 GMT -8
TANSTAAFL is, in case the term is unfamiliar to you, short for THERE AIN'T NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. Unfortunately, ObamaCare, in order for one to endorse it, requires an unwavering belief in that dubious propostion. The fact is that ObamaCare is like a house of cards next to a very big electric fan that is about to be tunred on. The thing will not . . . cannot . . . work the way promised, as this article explains.
Here are some choice comments made by readers of this Atlantic article.
What Obamacare will become unless repealed is Medicaid for everyone. The care will be provided by non-MDs and the quality will be trumped by cost considerations. More doctors will go to cash practices and a parallel system will emerge as it is doing in Canada. Massachusetts is already trying to ban such practices so you know they are a risk to the government plans.
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"At least half the country is satisfied (if not thrilled) with their current health care, and you won't be able to take it away. "
Wasn't this a claim repeatedly made by Obama? But then it turns out that some of the popular insurance plans currently offered will no longer be "acceptable", so you'll have to pay a fine to buy them, if you can get an insurance company (or employer) to offer them. Since the Secretary of HHS will have discretion to define what constitutes "acceptable" coverage, she could decide that any plan that reimburses doctors above some government-recommended pay scale is "Cadillac", or "abusive", or otherwise not "acceptable". She could also decree that any plan that covers conditions determined to be "not cost effective" is "not acceptable".
I expect that "better care" would not become illegal, as long as you can pay cash. But a health plan that would pay for "better care" could become illegal, at the discretion of the Secretary of HHS.
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Do you really think this sort of thing is likely ? The government will use price controls and private insurance will disappear. The insurance companies are perfectly willing to become administrators of the government plan. That will be a no-risk contract instead of the present risky business model.
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Notice what all this amounts to; a huge increase in the government's control over the vital area of health care and the inevitable side effect of loss of freedom of choice.
Oh, yes, we will end up with worse care at greater expense. Well, most of us will. Don't forget that the elite ruling class has exempted itself from the wonderful blessings of ObamaCare.
www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/11/in-health-care-no-free-lunch/66742/
AzWm
Here are some choice comments made by readers of this Atlantic article.
What Obamacare will become unless repealed is Medicaid for everyone. The care will be provided by non-MDs and the quality will be trumped by cost considerations. More doctors will go to cash practices and a parallel system will emerge as it is doing in Canada. Massachusetts is already trying to ban such practices so you know they are a risk to the government plans.
===========================================
"At least half the country is satisfied (if not thrilled) with their current health care, and you won't be able to take it away. "
Wasn't this a claim repeatedly made by Obama? But then it turns out that some of the popular insurance plans currently offered will no longer be "acceptable", so you'll have to pay a fine to buy them, if you can get an insurance company (or employer) to offer them. Since the Secretary of HHS will have discretion to define what constitutes "acceptable" coverage, she could decide that any plan that reimburses doctors above some government-recommended pay scale is "Cadillac", or "abusive", or otherwise not "acceptable". She could also decree that any plan that covers conditions determined to be "not cost effective" is "not acceptable".
I expect that "better care" would not become illegal, as long as you can pay cash. But a health plan that would pay for "better care" could become illegal, at the discretion of the Secretary of HHS.
===========================================
Do you really think this sort of thing is likely ? The government will use price controls and private insurance will disappear. The insurance companies are perfectly willing to become administrators of the government plan. That will be a no-risk contract instead of the present risky business model.
===========================================
Notice what all this amounts to; a huge increase in the government's control over the vital area of health care and the inevitable side effect of loss of freedom of choice.
Oh, yes, we will end up with worse care at greater expense. Well, most of us will. Don't forget that the elite ruling class has exempted itself from the wonderful blessings of ObamaCare.
www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/11/in-health-care-no-free-lunch/66742/
AzWm
