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Kaiser Health News reports that physician owned hospitals are earning much more than their competitors from the quality and the readmissions. It shows that these hospitals are really good. The public health people are up in arms about it since they want everyone to be mediocre. In physician owned hospitals the physicians control where money is spent which is not true in the other hospitals. Top
Obama called Sebelius and the heads of the health insurance companies to his office to "discuss" the healthcare law. He warned them not to raise rates significantly despite the mandates that he imposed upon them.
The House held a hearing on the inefficiency of the Veteran's Administration. There is a backup of over 1 million vets waiting for disability. The VA continues to be a very inefficient system that should be disbanded to allow all vets the ability to see any physician they wish and have the bill paid for by the feds. (See Recent Legislation on how the VA is going to correct their long standing error.)
Democratic Senator Baucus who helped write the Obamacare law is now speaking out about the program. He believes it is a "train wreck". He, along with the Republicans, blasted Sebilius in a recent hearing on her handling of the roll out. HHS continues to want more money even though they know that will not happen. Since it is a Democratic law they should have allowed enough initially.
Obamacare is full of laws of unintended circumstances. After the Supreme Court ruled for political purposes that Obamacare was legal since it was a tax (which it wasn't) and the states did not have to follow the Medicaid rules, more rules have come forward. I wonder how many businesses without employee health plans know that if even one of their employees goes to an exchange they will have to pay a penalty on all their employees. This may not happen in states that follow the Obama plan to increase Medicaid since if the employee goes on Medicaid no penalty to the business. To make matters worse if your employee is a citizen with a low income they can only get Medicaid but legal non citizens can get the exchanges therefore causing penalties for the employer.
The LA Times reports that as recession eases medical spending will increase. The recession has accounted for 77% of the reduced growth. The remaining 23% reduction was from increased copays. The total spending for 2012 total spending was $2.8 trillion. Spending only grew by 3.2% in 2009-11. The prediction is there will be a major jump in spending next year with the onset of Obamacare.
One of major drivers of spending will be the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction that comes in with Obamacare. This will drive up insurance premiums. The addicts and alcoholics will become eligible for treatments under the insurance plans since there will be no pre-existing conditions. Now only about 10% of those in need of treatment are getting it.
Anthem of California has again been caught in trying to scam the physicians. This time by underpaying interest owed on underpayments. Now they have to pay the interest and penalties within 120 days. Of course, with the time value of money the scum at Anthem still come out ahead. Top
The most costly med mal problem in the country is not wrong sided surgery nor wrong meds but is delayed or wrong diagnosis according to a story in modern Healthcare. Over 25% of the med mal cases in the NPDB are for delayed or missed diagnosis. These accounted for a very large amount of the death and disability cases. This also shows why physicians do defensive medicine. Top
DISCLAIMER: Although this
article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the
time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers
should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the
information presented.