Yet Another Example of how ObamaCare puts Healthcare at the Mercy of Bureaucrats and Lobbyists! ------ Yet Another Example of how ObamaCare puts Healthcare at the Mercy of Bureaucrats and Lobbyists! By Norman Wolfe You have all heard of the numerous problems and delays in implementing ObamaCare. I want to highlight one tiny aspect that perfectly illustrates how ObamaCare puts the Healthcare Industry (and therefore your personal health care) at the Mercy of Bureaucrats. First, the issue, as reported by Bloomberg: bloomberg/news/2013-08-16... [1] Less than two months before health exchanges open to the public, hospitals are asking to change a part of the Affordable Care Act that leaves them at financial risk for patients who fall behind on their insurance premiums. The conflict arose when regulations written to implement the core parts of the Affordable Care Act next year created a 90-day grace period before insurers can drop patients who fall behind on premiums. Insurers balked and the Obama administration changed the rules so that the financial burden for the first 30 days fell on insurers, while hospitals would carry the default risk for care provided in the remaining 60 days. “Hospitals are right to be worried,” said Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst in Stamford, Connecticut, for CRT Capital Group LLC. The goal of the health law “was for the hospitals to no longer be the insurer of last resort. There must be some other solution than putting this on the back of the hospitals.” The dispute over a regulation finalized in March 2012 and set to be applied when health exchanges begin selling plans Oct. 1, adds to concern about whether the Obama administration can successfully implement the president’s health-care system overhaul. When asked why hospitals are now raising objections so close to the rule’s start date, Alig said the industry has been preoccupied with the numerous other regulations of the $1.3 trillion Affordable Care Act. “There are pages and pages of federal rules around the insurance exchanges and everyone’s been trying to wrap their heads around it,” Alig said. “If the current rules cannot be amended or interpreted in a more equitable manner, we fear there will be a widespread reluctance among physicians and other providers to participate in exchange plans,” Kuhn and Holloway said in a Aug. 12 letter to Tavenner. “As a result, many patients -- especially those in underserved areas -- will find it very difficult to find physicians and other providers willing and able to provide their care.” CMS, which is responsible for implementing most of the health law, declined to comment about the grace-period rule. The main lobbying group for health insurers, America’s Health Insurance Plans, also declined to comment. First of all, does the Administration have the authority to unilaterally declare a 90-day grace period for someone who has not paid their insurance premium? Does it have the authority to unilaterally change that 90-day grace period to put the burden on hospitals versus insurance companies? Who is writing (and re-writing) these regulations, and what is their bias on protecting insurance companies versus hospitals, not to mention the impact on patients? Is there any public comment period? How will this affect the cost of ObamaCare and impact taxpayers? What a mess! But I want to emphasize what this one tiny example illustrates about the more broad issue of Government having pervasive control over ANY industry. Healthcare is not only a major segment of our economy, it has complex interactions between many players to provide all of the services that patients need. Free-market economies coordinate all of these components via the voluntary exchange for payment. Not only does this avoid coercion, but it has proved to be the most economical way to allocate resources and provide goods and services. You get what you pay for, and everyone is paid for what they provide – an equitable solution. Investments are made and profits gained in areas where people value the service sufficiently to pay. But there are problems with the pure free market in healthcare, particularly in the humanitarian value of providing care to the ill or injured, regardless of their ability to pay. Insurance helps (while causing other problems which I don’t have time to address here), but does not resolve the problem, and the burden of “charity care” has stretched many organizations, particularly hospitals, to the breaking point. This tempts many to reach out to Government to provide the solution. Beware! Government tries to set rules, and then lobbyists pressure and bribe lawmakers to adjust those rules in their favor, and then those who are short-changed have to hire lobbyists to fight back for their economic survival. And all the while, the taxpayer is the one who gets screwed! There are many, many other details buried within ObamaCare that will also require hospitals and doctors to live-and-die by how well they lobby the Federal Regulatory Agencies. Note that many insurance companies and hospitals were in favor of ObamaCare, because they thought government control would assist their bottom line. Now they are finding that they made a deal with the devil, and the bill is coming due very soon! Remember, businesses invest for economic gain, and thus grow the economy. Government invests for political gain, and thus grows the bureaucracy’s control over our lives. [1] bloomberg/news/2013-08-16/hospitals-may-pay-for-insurers-debtor-patients-under-obamacare.html
Posted on: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:35:21 +0000
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