Friday, May 27, 2011

Can't Read Medicare Rules

And if the people who wrote them can't figure them out what hope do you have, 'murkn?

 "Medical group pans key element of Obama health care plan; Says regulations so complex they are not workable" May 12, 2011|By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s main idea for getting quality health care at less cost was in jeopardy after key medical providers yesterday called his administration’s initial blueprint so complex it is unworkable.

Just over a month ago, top officials released long-awaited draft regulations for “accountable care organizations,’’ networks of doctors and hospitals that would collaborate to keep Medicare patients healthier and share in the savings with taxpayers. 

See: Return of the HMOs

No Choice With Obamacare

But we were told.... (sigh)

Obama’s health care overhaul law envisioned quickly setting up hundreds of such networks around the county to lead a bottom-up reform of America’s bloated health care system.  

The insults are making me sick. 

This is ALL TOP DOWN!!

But in an unusual rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier organizations such as the Mayo Clinic wrote the administration say[ing] they are worried they will be hit with losses, that the government has designed the system so there is no easy way to tell which patients are part of the program, and that there is no reliable way to adjust for patients who are sicker and require closer follow-up and more expensive treatments.

The deadline for public comments on the proposed regulations is still weeks away, but Fisher said “we needed to get their attention early on, so [the administration] could be thinking about how major changes are needed to make these regulations viable.’’

Many in the health care industry were silent partners backing Obama’s overhaul law, but disappointment over the accountable care rules has put a chill into the relationship....   

I guess they will be giving more campaign cash the the Republican next time out, huh?

Industry criticism of his administration’s proposal has been building up for weeks in online forums.

Agenda-pushing corporate AmeriKan media knows where the Web is when it needs it, huh?

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Also see: Obamacare the End of Employer-Based Health Plans

Looks like you will be getting a form of single-payer anyway, taxpayers.