Dr. Jeff Bauer, an economist and futurist with 45 years of experience in all aspects of health care delivery and has published 250 pieces of work on transforming the medical field, says the major problem Obamacare missed is building a good health care delivery system. Meanwhile, other out-of-pocket costs are growing too. It is the latest in a series of audits critical of federal oversight of the private companies that built the insurance marketplace at the heart of Obamacare. Three substantial improvements are still needed.
Advertisement
“With deductibles rising so much faster than premiums and wages, it’s no surprise that consumers have not felt the slowdown in health spending”, Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman said in a news release accompanying the organization’s 2015 Employer Health Benefits Survey.
We live in a time of extraordinary breakthroughs in the fight against disease.
And if we take the Flexnerian reforms of the mid-1910s to be the very first set of interventions giving birth to the system, then the history of American healthcare as it subsequently unfolded is a stark illustration of what economist Ludwig von Mises described in his 1950 essay “Middle-of-the-Road Policy Leads to Socialism”. Because too often, these drugs cost a fortune.
But at the same time, we need to protect hardworking Americans from excessive costs.
Clinton’s campaign also promised to “vigorously enforce antitrust laws to scrutinize mergers and ensure they do not harm consumers”, mentioning insurers as well as doctors and hospitals that sell them services. Before the law’s passage, the IHCIA had not been reauthorized in 10 years.
Ideology is standing in the way on guns, as it is in the 19 states refusing so far to expand Medicaid. “You have to be large enough to be able to compete in that world”.
I will also be sure we have more generics on the market. Medicare, overcoming “death panels” alarmism, recently announced it will reimburse doctors for discussing end-of-life choices with patients. That means 9 million more people have health insurance and peace of mind that goes with it. Building on the trend that started when other key provisions of the ACA kicked in, such as allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ insurance until age 26, the national rate of people without insurance is the lowest ever. She says many Americans are forced to pay a significant cost out-of-pocket if they get sick because average deductibles have more than doubled during the past decade. Because of this bill millions of poorer Americans now have access to ongoing and preventative medical care. By forcing health insurance companies to provide health insurance to those with preexisting conditions; dramatically expanding Medicaid; making millions of Americans dependent on government subsidies offered to help pay for Obamacare insurance plans, which have become increasingly more expensive due to ACA’s requirements; and forcing health insurance companies to provide specific policies, ACA makes a single-payer system inevitable.
Advertisement
Representative Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey, the senior Democrat on the health panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he was pleased to see Republicans and Democrats working together to improve and strengthen the law.
