Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP, MACE
The goal to provide affordable healthcare and access to care for all Americans is an admirable goal.Obamacare is making Americans dependent on the government for their healthcare access and health decisions. This is bad.
President Obama is doing this slowly but surely. The goal is to first destroy the present healthcare system. The more he destroys, the more the stakeholders, healthcare insurance industry, hospital systems, physicians, drug companies and patients game the system
Americans are known to be individualists. They cherish their freedoms. However, over the last 50 years many entitlements have been introduced at the price of forfeiting many freedoms.
Some entitlements have been for consumer protection. Others have not.
Obamacare is about government control and takeover of the healthcare system. President Obama understands that he cannot force people to do what they do not want to do.
However they will do anything when they have no choice. He is creating a no choice environment slowly but surely. He is doing it with a bad law, lots of lies and disinformation, and a golden tongue,
He changes and ignores parts of the law he wrote to fit he needs by executive order, disrespects the will of the people and congress and folds to pressures of lobbying from his base. He marginalizes his enemies.
His changing the law without the consent of congress is probably unconstitutional. However no Republican has questioned his tactics.
He stays on the offensive and keeps Republicans on the defensive. Republicans must have someone who could parry his offenses and put him on the defense even though he has the unequivocal support of the traditional media.
On Friday August 9th was a perfect example of this offensive.
I'm assuming they will not take that path...I have confidence that common sense, in the end, will prevail.
He explained his delay of the employer mandate by saying going through congress would be the "normal thing" to do "but we're not in a normal atmosphere around here when it comes to 'Obamacare.'"
The president called efforts to defund and repeal Obamacare the Republicans' "holy grail" and an "ideological fixation."
You have got to give it to him. No one would ever think Obamacare is having so much trouble because it is a lousy law, that is impossible to build out its structure, Impossible to implement, impossible to execute and impossible to enforce.
The majority of the country and majority of the stakeholders are against the bill. President Obama just goes right ahead despite the will of the people.
Obamacare did not get one single Republican vote. President Obama’s twist and turns have kept Republicans in a reactive and defensive mode.
Every time Republicans go on the offense they are blamed for the bad law’s (Obamacare’s) failure. They do not answer back.
I believe the majority of the people know what President Obama is about. They do not trust him. The lack of trust renders him ineffective.
Someone needs to turn the tables on him.
I also believe President Obama is about to turn the tables on himself. His says he is all ears for a good idea but Republicans have not presented him with one.
This is not true. The problem is President Obama doesn’t listen.
The list of lies and misrepresentations are enormous. These lies and misrepresentations have resulted in the lack of trust.
Below are some of the things promised that so we should not forget.
1. Imposing President Obama’s idea of transformation by social engineering in which the majority of the population does not agree with.
2. Imposing 21 hidden taxes that few knew about before the bills passage. Few knew the effect of these taxes on small business until after passage of Obamacare. These tax increases amount to the biggest tax increase in our history.
This occurred after President Obama pledged no new taxes for anyone making less than $250,000 dollars. All of these taxes are passed on to consumers.
3. The medical device tax alone is a job-killing and innovation-stifling medical device tax. 33 Democrat senators are now opposed to this tax. He does not have the support of his party on this tax.
4. Independent Payment Advisory Board (the IPAB) is going to ration healthcare. Sarah Palin called it aka death panels. Howard Dean, recently termed it a "health care rationing body" that Congress should be "getting rid of." The Obama administration insists there is not going to be rationing of care.
5. The original CBO cost estimate was a reduction in healthcare costs in 10 years. The CBO used six years of costs and ten years of taxes. The next estimate using rigged numbers given to the CBO by the Obama administration was less than $1 trillion.
The ten-year CBO cost estimate has now reached $2.6 trillion. We have not heard from the Obama administration about this new estimate.
6. Health insurance premiums are soaring despite President Obama’s recent statements that healthcare premiums are falling. All employer and employees will say President Obama is wrong.
Four years ago President Obama promised the public that, “Obamacare would reduce a "typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year."
7. We will all recall these famous lines, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.”
If you like your healthcares plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period.
“No one will take it away. No matter what.”
No statement is more dramatic but false.
8. Obamacare is making an already serious shortage of doctors worse. Many physicians are opting out of Obamacare, Medicare and Medicaid.To make thing worse patients will have to pay physicians directly. The Obama administration published a new rule for seniors. CMS will not reimburse patients the 70% of their out of pocket expenses for physicians that do not accept Medicare or Medicaid.
The result will be an increased out of pocket burden for all patients, rich and poor.
9. Many employers are likely to drop health coverage. There has been widespread reduction of work hours to avoid paying an Obamacare mandated penalty to provide employee health insurance.
These part time workers will be forced to buy insurance through the health insurance exchanges. This will balloon the federal deficit even further.
10. The states have been given the option to participate in health insurance exchanges and expanding Medicare and Medicaid. Thirty three states have refused to participate. They know they cannot afford to increase their states’ budget deficit.
11. The healthcare insurance industry thought it would make a killing by insuring people through the health insurance exchanges. In Medicare and Medicaid they bill the government for doing the administrative services. President Obama has changed the promised health insurance rules. Several insurers are leaving all of the states. More are to follow.
12. Recent surveys show that 63 percent of voters think the law needs to be changed, and a 57-percent majority feeling that implementation is "a joke."
This is happening despite the traditional media helping President Obama’s political campaign to promote Obamacare.
These are just a few of the reasons for the mistrust of the administration.
Next will be a summary of President Obama’s probable unconstitutional delays in the law without congressional permission.
Max Baucus was corrected. Obamacare is an expensive train wreck.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone
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