Fix Health Care Policy

Obamacare Causes Doctor to Retire

Newscom

Yet another doctor has decided to quit practicing medicine due to Obamacare’s onerous burdens.

“I am in my mid-70s and have both the capacity and willingness to care for patients for another decade. But I am retiring,” Dr. John Curry of Fairfax, VA, wrote to one of his patients, columnist Cal Thomas, in an explanation of how the Affordable Care Act (ACA), more commonly known as Obamacare, is leading him to retire early.

“I cannot stand it anymore. More than half of my time in the office is spent filling out forms, writing letters, responding to inquiries, and attending to ‘urgent’ matters that did not exist 10 years ago. And every year my income is less,” he wrote. “At this point I would rather be paid nothing and have the freedom to decide what is right for my patients.”

“ACA is only another straw, but for this tired camel, it will break my back,” wrote Curry.

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: doctors, low reimbursement, ObamaCare, regulatory burden, repeal the law, retirement

Obamacare at 3 Years: Unrealistic Expectations for ACOs

Newscom

Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)—a concept that a group of doctors and hospitals will work collectively to manage the care and costs of Medicare patients—were expected to transform the delivery of health care. Yet again, much like the rest of Obamacare, these promises appear to be falling short of expectations.

In writing for Heritage, founding member of the Galen Institute John Hoff explains:

ACOs, as described, are a strange hybrid of fee-for-service and managed care, subject to ongoing control by CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services]. Like other hybrids, they are not likely to breed naturally. ACOs are a keystone of the PPACA [Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act], but they are unlikely to improve health care and reduce its costs. ACOs are further demonstration, if any is needed, that the PPACA is ill-conceived. CMS-directed change will not bring meaningful reform, but impede it.

Thus far, the experience of the first group of ACOs, the 32 “Pioneers” (as the government calls them), has been shaky, and some have suggested they might even drop out of the program.

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: Accountable Care Organizations, ACOs, CMS, doctors, Medicare, ObamaCare, patients, pioneers

10 Things About Obamacare That Just Don’t Make Sense

Obamacare includes many disastrous consequences for America’s health care system. Contributing to the impending mess are these 10 provisions that clearly elude common sense.

1. Expanding a program that one in three doctors won’t accept. Obamacare expands a broken Medicaid program that already faces a severe access problem: One out of three Medicaid doctors will not accept new Medicaid patients. If the Obama Administration has its way and every state expands Medicaid, 17 million Americans will be added to the rolls—5.6 million of whom will join the other Medicaid patients who can’t find a doctor.
2. Giving Medicaid doctors a pay raise—for two years. Obamacare increases the payment rate for Medicaid primary care doctors up to Medicare payment levels in 2013 and 2014. After those two years, Medicaid doctors will face about a 22 percent payment cut.
3. Giving more government money to low-income Americans in the exchanges than to those in Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that every low-income individual who chooses to enroll in the new exchanges instead of Medicaid will increase federal spending by roughly $3,000 in 2022, because exchange subsidies will be more generous than the cost of coverage in Medicaid.

See the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: disastrous, doctors, health system, low-income Americans, Medicaid, ObamaCare

Top Five Reasons Obamacare Is Bad for Doctors

The Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision is expected next week, but it’s important to remember that the constitutionality of the law’s individual mandate isn’t the only concern. Several surveys have revealed that doctors have a negative view of the law and its impact on the practice of medicine. Here are five ways Obamacare will harm doctors:

1. Adds more patients to Medicaid. Beginning in 2014, Obamacare dumps an additional 19.6 million Americans into Medicaid. On average, Medicaid physician payments are only 56 percent of what private insurance pays. Lower payment rates already discourage doctors from accepting Medicaid beneficiaries, which has lead to access issues and hospital emergency room overcrowding. As more patients enroll in this broken program, it will place even more financial strain on physicians who treat them. Doctors will be faced with the decision to either discontinue treating Medicaid patients or accept even more patients at the lower payment rate.

(Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: doctor-patient relationship, doctors, harmful, IPAB, Medicaid Expansion, Medicare cuts, ObamaCare

Side Effects: Doctors Fear Obamacare

The American public doesn’t support Obamacare, and a new survey shows that doctors have an even worse opinion. No one has a better grasp on the state of the health care system than physicians, and according to the Doctors Company survey, 60 percent of them believe that Obamacare will have a negative impact on overall patient care. This survey is consistent with the findings of another doctor survey taken in October 2010, which also showed doctors’ lack of confidence in Obamacare.

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: doctors, fear, negative impact, ObamaCare, repeal, unpopular law

Employers Consider Dropping Health Coverage Under Obamacare

Reports from employers continue to belie President Obama’s repeated insistence that, under his new health care law, Americans would not lose their employer-provided health insurance coverage. A new survey shows that more than one in ten midsized and large employers are at least “somewhat likely” to drop their health coverage once Obamacare’s “exchanges” go into effect in 2014.

“Let me be exactly clear about what health care reform means to you,” President Obama said during his Obamacare push. “First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.”  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: doctors, employer coverage, health insurance, ObamaCare, plans

Doctor Fears Government’s Expanding Role in Health Care

Dr. Martha Boone doesn’t hide her displeasure with Obamacare. She was opposed to the law long before President Obama signed it one year ago and remains critical of it today. She spoke at Heritage this week about its impact on doctors.

One story Boone shared shed light on the challenges government-run health care has created with her patients. She spoke of an incident involving a Medicare patient with stress incontinence, a condition that can be treated by one of two operations.

The first operation takes 15 minutes, is not invasive and does not require anesthesia. It costs $2,200. The alternative requires cutting, general anesthesia, is more dangerous for those over 65, and has a four-week recovery. It costs $15,000. (Read the rest at The Foundry…)

Tags: doctors, Dr. Martha Boone, government-run health care, ObamaCare

Doctors Give the Practice of Medicine under Obamacare a Grim Prognosis

On Monday, The Heritage Foundation hosted a panel of current and future physicians to discuss the impact of Obamacare on their profession. Their remarks highlighted the importance of the doctor-patient relationship as the heart of the practice of medicine and detailed direct threats as a result of the new health law.

Representative Michael Burgess, M.D., (R-TX) explained that part of being a physician is fighting for the best interests of each individual patient. Under Obamacare, this will be harder to do, as government inserts itself further into the provision of care. One example is the creation of accountable care organizations (ACOs) in Medicare. Representative Burgess pointed out that under ACOs, doctors would not be held accountable to patients, but rather to the hospital or health plan in charge. Based on his experience as an OB/GYN, Representative Burgess argued that it will be more difficult for doctors to stand up for patients’ needs to insurers or the government if they work directly for the latter. (Read the rest at The Foundry…)

Tags: ACOs, doctor-patient relationship, doctors, ObamaCare, physician reimbursement

Countdown to Repeal: Doctor Is Already Feeling the Fateful Effects of Obamacare

Dr. Martha Boone is no ordinary urologist. For more than a year she has led a grassroots campaign against Obamacare — and for good reason. Boone’s livelihood depends on it.

As the House prepares to vote on repeal today, Boone is struggling with the consequences of the law. Just this week, for example, she learned the cost of health insurance for her five employees was increasing 27 percent. How will she cover the increase? It’s a question weighing on her mind.

We traveled to Atlanta last year to speak to Boone about her concerns. (Read our report and watch our video.) Boone was in the process of moving to a less expensive office in an older building. The move helped her avoid laying off an employee, but it was just one of the sacrifices she made. (Read the rest at The Foundry…)

Tags: doctors, regulatory burden, reimbursement cuts, repeal Obamacare