Richard A. Cloward and Frances Fox Piven were Columbia University sociologists who founded, in 1966, the National Welfare Reform Organization, a “parent organization” of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). They advocated what became known as the “Cloward-Piven strategy,” which “seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading the government bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse.” This is an instructive prism through which to view the recent health care legislation. The legislation pushes millions into Medicaid, whose costs are already crushing state and local taxpayers into powder. Flooding it with new beneficiaries will hasten its bankruptcy. Likewise, Medicare is to be cut by $500 billion at a time when the baby boomers will be enrolling. The program is already running at a deficit, and will simply be unable to provide seniors the same level of service they currently enjoy. In other words, both systems will implode. At the same time, incentives for employers to provide health care will be lessened, and many will drop coverage, sending millions to the government cooperatives for coverage. These policies will be heavily subsidized by the taxpayer, and will dramatically swell an already very bloated public sector. We are already mired in debt, and still bailing out Fannie and Fred with tens of billions of dollars each quarter, and with no end in sight. The health bill may be the coup de grace for our struggling economy. Doctors are not blind, nor are they asleep. Many understand that “unsustainable” means collapse is inevitable unless Washington does an about-face. How is the medical profession responding? Two articles published this week provide a glimpse into the future. Scott Gottlieb writes in the Wall St. Journal, “In 2005, doctors owned more than two-thirds of all medical practices. By next year, more than 60% of physicians will be salaried employees. About a third of those will be working for hospitals.” On the other side, the Houston Chronicle reports that Texas physicians are not only declining to take new Medicare patients, but that “new data shows 100 to 200 a year are now ending all involvement with the program. Before 2007, the number of doctors opting out averaged less than a handful a year.” The article quotes Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the Texas Medical Association: “This new data shows the Medicare system is beginning to implode. If Congress doesnt fix Medicare soon, therell be more and more doctors dropping out and Congress promise to provide medical care to seniors will be broken.” In other words, the “Cloward-Piven strategy” is being implemented. aapsonline.org/index.php/article/health_reform_by_cloward_and_piven
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 04:45:24 +0000
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