Obamacare to Medicare recipients.. just die

[LDB]

Not in so many words but the end result is the same. Obamacare is shutting down the system for those on Medicare. How's the hope and change working for you liberal Obama FOOLS now?

Doctors say Medicare cuts force painful decision about elderly patients

 

[Turtle]

"Not in so many words" is right. LOL People really should read the actual articles they link to before creating incredibly misleading thread subjects and then making comments about the subject and the article. The article has nothing whatsoever to do with Obamacare. This has to do with the Medicare rates adopted by Congress in 1997 and how it's been affecting doctor and patients ever since.

 

[RLENT]

Not in so many words but the end result is the same. Obamacare is shutting down the system for those on Medicare. How's the hope and change working for you liberal Obama FOOLS now?

LDB,

I'm very impressed - I knew if there was anyone who could outdo the chef for most retarded premise or assertion in a thread this week, you would be "The One" ... Congrats Neo !

Let's recap for the home viewing audience shall we:

You assert the premise Obamacare is responsible for the current cuts in Medicare. In reading the article and doing a little research I find the following:

1. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission which is the agency responsible for establishing the cuts is actually an independent agency of Congress .....

2. The agency was established in 1997 - at time when Republicans controlled both houses of Congress - with the purpose of advising Congress on payments to private health plans participating in Medicare and health providers serving Medicare beneficiaries.

3. Part of that mandate includes advice about the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate, which is intended to ensure that the yearly increase in the expense per Medicare beneficiary does not exceed the growth in GDP.

4. The Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate is a statutory mechanism passed 1997 under a Republican controlled Congress.

5. The current Congress (which is Democratically controlled) is on track to postpone the cuts in Medicare payments (as have other Congresses before it), with the Senate having already passed a measure to do so, with the House is likely to do similar when it reconvenes next week.

6. Obamacare isn't mentioned anywhere in the article and apparently it doesn't have anything to do with what is being talked about in the article. IOW, your connection of it to the article appears to be some sort of hallucination or delusion (or perhaps just a really poor ability to comprehend the English language)

From the above I conclude that that there are several possibilities that would account for the total disconnect between your premise and what the actual facts are - however I will not list them here as it would likely be considered to be in very poor taste.

By the way, what was that you were saying about FOOLS .... ?

 

[cheri1122]

Wow - those poor overworked and underpaid doctors: last time Medicare 'slashed' their compensation [by 4%], the simply increased the number of services per patient, by 40% [from 2000-08]. They're unhappy that reimbursement hasn't kept pace with increased costs - well, so am I, cos mine sure hasn't either.
They milk the system for every dime they can bill [patient has a headache? Order an MRI!], or at best, practicing defensive medicine, ordering every test possible, just in case. Really expensive tests, that's the way to work it, eh?
Luckily for them, they can AFFORD to hire high powered lobbyists, and make their unhappiness heard in Washington - the rest of us just keep tightening our belts, making do with income that doesn't keep up with increased costs, and hasn't for years.
The Hippocratic oath sounds more like the hypocritical oath, for far too many of these 'healers'. Talk about an attitude of 'entitlement'....
Leo, I know your father is a retired physician [don't call them doctors! cos a PhD is a doctor too] but did you even read the article?!

 

[LDB]

Glad you liked it. Yes, there's plenty from the past that's messing things up but certainly the half trillion or so dollars additional cuts from Obamacare "fixing" health care and Medicare specifically aren't going to help any at all. Good old Grayson wasn't so far off but just credited the wrong group with fixing it so seniors have few options other than dying.

 

[LDB]

Oh, and the reason AARP was so gung ho for Obamacare is, guess what, they sell Medicare supplement insurance and guess what, the gap and the need for it is going to be much greater under Obamacare and oh, guess what, the premiums are going higher and higher on AARP insurance even as we type.

 

[greg334]

Cheri,
Hate to say this but most 'professionals' in the medical field that administer to patients don't know jack about the finances in the medical system or why costs are so high.

I just shake my head at this idea that the doctors shouldn't be charging a lot, when they have to carry more of a burden than most professionals. If you as a professional driver had to deal with that much regulations, laws, education and so on, it wouldn't be worth it. BUT we expect someone who has gone through years of schooling to obtain the skills, prove themselves and then work within an archaic system constantly under legal threat to do a job that is close to God at times.

That outrageous charge for aspirin or that doctor's visit that was not needed is not all is not the fault of the doctor but the fault of the patient. The Patient should be proactive with their own medical care, not let things go. They need to learn how the system works and how to used it, not just show up and let someone else worry about paying the doctor or take legal action when something does not go their way.

Part of the root cause of the high costs of medical care is malpractice and our society is litigation happy to make a quick buck. How many actual malpractice suits are justified? 5% maybe? maybe not even them and know some of the actual cases but look at any phone book (if you can find one) and see how many lawyers there are. The patient is stupid to think that the doctor is a god, like in another thread where the parents are blaming the system for little Johnny's ailments when it is beyond the control of the doctors (especially in mental health medicine).

I can not for a second blame a hospital or a doctor refusing to take on Medicare/Medicaid patients, it is not mandated and the second it is, our medical profession is lost forever. The Medicare/Medicaid system as much as people think it is so great, maybe it should be eliminated in the future, it was not well thought of and created at a time when we thought we could pay for everything forever.

 

[LDB]

Maybe we could take ALL current and ALL past CRIMINAL aliens off the Medicare rolls. That would make a very very large difference in the overall outcome.