Stanley Feld MD,FACP, MACE
I have wondered why either house of congress has not done anything about healthcare reform in the past 6 months.
The reason is that both the Democrat and Republican leadership in both houses of congress do not want to do anything about Repairing the Healthcare System.
On July 2, 2018 CMS released a report on the performance of the health insurance exchanges and the individual Obamacare health insurance markets.
I am unable to insert link and videos properly. Please insert the links for both into your browser. It is important to understand how the rookie representative view how the government works.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Releases Reports on the Performance of the Exchanges and Individual Health Insurance Market.
Reports show individual market erosion and increasing taxpayer liability
The CMS conclusions for 2017 were obvious in 2016. Obamacare is on a downward spiral.
In 2017 87% of enrollees were subsidized as opposed to 83% in 2016.
There was an alarming 20% drop nationwide in enrollees in Obamacare’s individual healthcare market without federal premium subsidies.
223,000 subsidized enrollees dropped their subsidized insurance.
These Obamacare enrollees dropped their insurance because even with subsidies their premiums became too expensive. Their average monthly premiums of the subsided and unsubsidized groups spiked by 21%.
Unsubsidized Obamacare enrollment dropped an average of 33% nationally. It dropped an astonishing 73% in Arizona. It is a wonder that neither Arizona senator wants to do anything about Repairing the Healthcare System. It is also a wonder that Arizona citizens continue to support these senators.
Obamacare is dead!
The Democrats are naturally blaming its death on President Trump. President Trump does not want to pour more money into this failed concept while forcing a greater payment liability on taxpaying Americans. He wants congress to do something to repair the healthcare system.
President Obama’s plan all along was for Obamacare to fail and be replaced by a single party payer system.
I have written about 20 articles on why a single party payer system is unsustainable and will fail.
http://stanfeld.com/?s=single+party+payer
The British National Health Services System is a failure. Single party payer systems close to home are a failure.
For example The VA Health System is a failure. Medicaid is an unsustainable failure. It is unsustainable while offering inefficient care.
http://stanfeld.com/?s=Medicaid+failure
Medicare is a failure because it is unsustainable by the government. Seniors like it because they can get care that they could not afford otherwise.
However, seniors are getting wise. Medicare is becoming unaffordable to seniors. The government construction of Medicare premiums for Part B, Part D and Part F are costing seniors somewhere north of $16,000 a year in post tax dollars.
Medicare used to pay 80% of its approved fee. The approved fee is about 50% of the physicians’ fees. In 2018 Medicare is only paying around 50% of its approved fee. Seniors have to pay the difference.
This will drive seniors out of the Medicare marketplace.
There is a better way. I have gone into excruciating detail describing the better way.
http://stanfeld.com/?s=My+Ideal+Medical+Savings+Account
Newt Gingrich, when he was house leader, said my idea was a BIG IDEA. However nothing ever came of the big idea. The “big idea” empowers the people not the government.
“Unlike many other politicians who have promised to take on the establishment and “drain the swamp,” Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) 2012 is actually trying to do just that, and is taking some serious flak for his exposure of the Deep State and its agents on Capitol Hill.”
If you click on the newamerican link above you will have all the videos in one article.
In a video series entitled The Swamp, Massie, along with Representatives Dave Brat and Tom Garrett of Virginia, Ken Buck of Colorado, Rod Blum of Iowa, and Ted Yoho of Florida, are showing people “what happens behind the scenes in Congress.”
To date, there are four episodes, each running about 10 minutes.
Besides pulling back the curtain to reveal the names and tactics of those who really pull the legislative levers in Congress, The Swamp videos make it very obvious that, although there are 435 members of the House of Representatives, the key decisions are made by a handful of very powerful leaders bent on controlling the country and that the betrayal is bipartisan.
The first video introduces these non establishment representatives’ chief complaint.
https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1794302460864573/
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An average of 4,500,000 people have viewed these videos.
“Representative Blum responded, “Most all the decisions around here are made by a few people at the very top, without the input of any other congressional members or U.S. senators. That’s not good representative government, wouldn’t you say?”
I think both parties are engaged in a quiet deal that we will support our base, and if it leads to bankruptcy, okay, and you will support your base, and if it leads to bankruptcy, okay,” Representative Buck says in Episode 1.
In Episode 2, the perception of a two-party system where the two parties oppose each other and want to achieve different ends is shattered as leaders of Democrats work with their Republican counterparts to shove a bloated, unconstitutional omnibus spending bill through the House without giving members time to read the text of the measure.
https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1807501746211311/
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“One of the most shocking revelations comes in Episode 3, when Rep. Massie details how the party forces members to pay “rent” for their committee assignments and chairmanships. If a congressman wants to sit on a committee, he is expected to raise a certain amount of money for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the body that works to elect House Republicans. There is an identical system on the Democrat side. In an interview, Rep. Buck told me this system has been in place for Republicans since the days of Newt Gingrich, and even longer for Democrats.”
https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1816800768614742/
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Episode 4 of The Swamp was released just a few days ago and covers the consequences faced by those lawmakers brave enough to buck the system and call out the conspirators.
https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1831877993773686/
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There you have it. This is the complex definition of The Swamp.
The structure has been created whereby our representatives and senators do not represent the will of the people.
Congress represents the will of the vested interests. Anyone that understands this has to play ball or move out.
It will be very difficult for America to get a sensible healthcare reform bill for the benefit of the American people when this pyramid of power exists.
It looks like legislation is driven by money, not the will of the people. These four videos are essential to understanding the process. They must be watched.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.
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