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August 2, 2009

Obamacare to have a 'patient dumping plan' to send the elderly to group homes?

Topics: Political News and commentaries

The elderly could be saying goodbye to liberty and freedom of choice if the Democrats Obamacare comes down as the House envisions.

CNSNews has learned that the House bill proposes to lower hospital visits by older patients by referring them to what is being called a "medical home pilot program." This will be a new sort of institution set up to accept the elderly that isn't staffed with doctors and high cost medical equipment but is instead staffed by nurse practitioners and other less trained personnel.

Critics of the idea, though, worry that this program will amount to patient dumping.

But physicians' groups say the legislation could lead to restrictions on which treatments may be used for certain conditions, despite the fact that some patients might require a unique or unconventional approach. It also may lead to dumping Medicare/Medicaid patients in facilities that are not required to have physicians on staff.

Worse, this idea might result in a one-size-fits-all style of medical assessment for patients that aren't as rich as others. It will likely result in policies and procedures that ignore the individual needs of patients shoving them into a situation where their needs are not taken into account. Additionally, this sort of policy would eliminate the recommendation of doctors for a rote policy.

And as pointed out at the link, these policies are likely to not even contain costs.

Posted by Richard at August 2, 2009 9:46 AM

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