The Freedom Watch

ObamaCare Pushes Big Medical Practice Changes

"More than half the doctors are now working for hospitals and other institutions, rather than in private practice. Hospitals are using their new doctor employees to get more money out of Medicare. The other major unintended consequence is the boost to consumer-directed health care. The cheapest plans are going to have deductibles of $5,000 or more. Millions of patients are going to be buying care with their own money, rather than with a third-party payer’s money. Accenture predicts the number of walk-in clinics is going to double in the next few years. They are doing what the ACOs are unlikely to do: lowering costs, increasing quality, and improving access to care." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamaCare Pushes Big Medical Practice Changes

Don’t Be Fooled, ObamaCare Will Drive Up Unemployment and Healthcare Costs

"To the extent that prices are prevented from rising, it will create enhanced rationing by waiting. And almost anything patients and doctors to do circumvent the cost of waiting will also add to the money cost of care. For example, an increasing number of primary care doctors are becoming concierge doctors. For a fee of about $2,000 a year, patients get same day or next day appointments, more time with the physician and someone who acts as their agent in dealing with other parts of a complex heath care system. Yet physicians who become concierge doctors typically replace a practice that sees about 2,500 patients with one that sees only about 500." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDon’t Be Fooled, ObamaCare Will Drive Up Unemployment and Healthcare Costs

2009 Promise of Cheaper Health Care Has Morphed Into 2013 Price Hikes

"Remember when President Obama promised back in 2009 that his health care reform plan would cut insurance premiums for the average family by $2,500? Four years later, those promised cuts have morphed into admissions of price hikes. According to a new study from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 70 percent of chief financial officers cite health costs as their top concern, up from 51 percent last year, mainly because of what they expect Obamacare to do to costs. Many smaller companies are contemplating dropping family coverage — and will instead offer benefits to workers only, thanks to the higher costs on the way because of Obamacare. Continue reading →

Continue Reading2009 Promise of Cheaper Health Care Has Morphed Into 2013 Price Hikes

Ex-Obama administration healthcare official joins lobby firm

"Yvette Fontenot will join Avenue Solutions as a partner. The firm is a boutique Democratic lobby shop with a specialty in healthcare, representing some of the country’s biggest insurers and healthcare providers. Fontenot recently left the Department of Health and Human Services, where she was deputy director of the Office of Health Reform. She also worked as senior policy director in the White House Office of Health Reform, where she helped to implement the Affordable Care Act. Fontenot has also held several positions on Capitol Hill, including as a professional staff member for the Senate Finance Committee where she helped develop the healthcare reform law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-Obama administration healthcare official joins lobby firm

Disturbing report finds U.S. hospitals profit more when surgery goes wrong

"US hospitals face a disincentive to improve care because they make drastically more money when surgery goes wrong than when a patient is discharged with no complications, a study published Tuesday found. An estimated $400 billion is spent on surgery in the United States every year. Privately insured patients with complications provide hospitals with a 330 percent higher profit margin than those whose surgeries went smoothly. Patients whose bills are paid by Medicare — a government insurance plan for the elderly and disabled — produced a 190 percent higher profit margin when complications arose following surgery." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDisturbing report finds U.S. hospitals profit more when surgery goes wrong

Obamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

"John Lott is best known to the public for his outstanding analysis of gun control legislation, but his research as an economist extends far beyond that topic; and he here gives us a devastating account that covers the full range of the Obama Administration’s economic policy. One would expect a book by John Lott to say something informative about gun control, and our author does not disappoint us. It transpires that he met President Obama when both of them served on the law school faculty of the University of Chicago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

Obamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

"John Lott is best known to the public for his outstanding analysis of gun control legislation, but his research as an economist extends far beyond that topic; and he here gives us a devastating account that covers the full range of the Obama Administration’s economic policy. One would expect a book by John Lott to say something informative about gun control, and our author does not disappoint us. It transpires that he met President Obama when both of them served on the law school faculty of the University of Chicago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

Obamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

"John Lott is best known to the public for his outstanding analysis of gun control legislation, but his research as an economist extends far beyond that topic; and he here gives us a devastating account that covers the full range of the Obama Administration’s economic policy. One would expect a book by John Lott to say something informative about gun control, and our author does not disappoint us. It transpires that he met President Obama when both of them served on the law school faculty of the University of Chicago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

Obamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

"John Lott is best known to the public for his outstanding analysis of gun control legislation, but his research as an economist extends far beyond that topic; and he here gives us a devastating account that covers the full range of the Obama Administration’s economic policy. One would expect a book by John Lott to say something informative about gun control, and our author does not disappoint us. It transpires that he met President Obama when both of them served on the law school faculty of the University of Chicago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

Obamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters

"John Lott is best known to the public for his outstanding analysis of gun control legislation, but his research as an economist extends far beyond that topic; and he here gives us a devastating account that covers the full range of the Obama Administration’s economic policy. One would expect a book by John Lott to say something informative about gun control, and our author does not disappoint us. It transpires that he met President Obama when both of them served on the law school faculty of the University of Chicago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObamacare, Stimulus, and Other Disasters