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December 10, 2009

Docs aren't buy'n what Reid's sell'n

Topics: Political News and commentaries

Well, it's not like they hadn't been warned. And this is their well-deserved reward for playing footsy with the White House and participating in those dog-and-pony shows on the White House lawn.

USA Today reports that hospital and doctor groups that have generally supported Obamacare are pushing back against the proposal by Democratic leaders to let younger Americans buy into Medicare:

[...] "Bringing more people into a system that doesn't work very well is not a good answer," said Jeffrey Korsmo, executive director of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. "The current Medicare program is not sustainable."

[...] Many details have not been announced, but the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, pounced on a proposal to expand the seniors program because doctors receive less from Medicare than from private insurance for the same procedures.

"If more people move into Medicare we'd ... bear the financial brunt of this," said Rich Umbdenstock, president and CEO of the hospital trade group.

If the system already doesn't work very well before we add millions more to the system, and doctors receive less from Medicare than from private insurance for the same procedures, how long are doctors going to accept Medicare patients and how long before the care Medicare patients receive is rationed by lack of available doctors, beyond that of rationing by government panels?

Meanwhile, even the WaPo recognizes that the Senate's expansion of Medicare is "a bigger step toward a single-payer system than the milquetoast public option plans rejected by Senate moderates as too disruptive of the private market. "

Posted by Abdul at December 10, 2009 9:15 AM

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