Barry! How's That ObamaCare Thing Working?

[PICK3]

or,


just get the $1,200 flu shot and don't pay your bill like the vast majority of people already do w/their medical bills.


lol

my hydros bill is moar than that!

 

[PICK3]

Group gets $1.1 million grant to collect ObamaCare 'success stories'



Group gets $1.1 million grant to collect ObamaCare 'success stories' | Fox News

 

[miplank]

wtf is my check?

 

[TableFun]

225,000 Michigan residents are losing their insurance. I've had a few of my pt's inform me that they will lose it. Not one uninsured pt has signed up.

 

[mrplunkey]

Does it really matter? You pay for the uninsured one way or another. Would you rather the Government subsidize some health insurance premiums or would you rather be charged $1,200 for a flu shot.

We have a tiered system right now:

Private Payers (roughly at cost x 1.60)
Medicare (roughly at cost x 0.90)
Uninsured/Under-insured including Medicaid (roughly at cost x 0.20)

We're moving toward a two-tier system:

Concierge Level / Elite Private Payers (cost unknown)
Obamacare/Medicare/Medicaid (cost unknown)

We managed access to the third tier before (which yes, is a nice way of saying we denied or limited care). Emergent care was paid by the hospital absorbing the cost, but even then that tier was managed.

Let me give you an example: If you presented to an ER with a marginally-stable fracture and had no insurance, you most likely got a plaster or fiberglass cast if at all possible -- they didn't even know if you'd ever return. But if you had insurance, you probably got plates and screws (a secondary, costly surgery). Providers rationed care based on your ability to pay.

Let me give you another example: Here's a real-world one. Our nanny/housekeeper's husband is marginally employed. He does "odd jobs" and probably makes less than $10,000 per year. He's at least 350 lbs and has a blood sugar that routinely runs over 300 and often spikes to over 400. He's a complete train wreck. She buys him glucose meters and test strips -- he refuses to use them. She tries to modify his eating habits -- and he sneaks food. He's told me point-blank that he doesn't care and that if they need to cut something off (referring to an amputation), so be it. In a BarryCare world, this guy is a vein of pure gold to a provider. They could easily rack-up $50,000 per year in bills for him, but A) He's not going to exercise, B) He's going to maintain his 350+ lbs body weight and C) He's not going to modify his diet. That $50,000 per year is going to come straight from taxpayers.

So what's the incremental cost of BarryCare to taxpayers through measures like I described? I'd guess for the first few years it will only be around $200-$400 billion dollars. Past five years and more like ten years away, we're talking trillion+ dollars of new entitlement costs. And yes, that's on top of our existing Medicare and Medicaid burden -- this is money spent beyond that.

 

[PICK3]

I'm on teh Plunkey tier!

 

[mrplunkey]

225,000 Michigan residents are losing their insurance. I've had a few of my pt's inform me that they will lose it. Not one uninsured pt has signed up.

And those private payers were probably paying at a good margin.

Even if they do manage to sign-up for BarryCare, the providers will get less *and* taxpayers will be paying a large subsidy on top of that.

Think of it like this:

CPT XYZ reimbursed $1,200 before

Post-BarryCare...

CPT XYZ reimburses $800
But taxpayers pay 25% of that

So providers get less money and taxpayers pay more money. And a lot of the recipients of that benefit don't want to modify their lifestyles anyway.

It's a massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the underemployed and poor-lifestyle crowd.

Now someone will parade-out an example of someone with some unique, non-lifestyle related pre-existing condition. And yes, there's not doubt that there are some of those people. But you don't restructure 1/6 of the entire US economy for what would be at *best* six to eight million people. It's the tail wagging the dog. For those people, we would have been better writing them big checks to buy private insurance instead of destroying the entire system.

 

[redsamurai]

He's at least 350 lbs and has a blood sugar that routinely runs over 300 and often spikes to over 400.

Ever see the movie Looper? Was it as eerie for you seeing your older self as it was for the dude in that movie?

 

[zwhit]

aren't you the guy who blew up his heart and has never posted a pic of himself?

 

[mrplunkey]

aren't you the guy who blew up his heart and has never posted a pic of himself?

He's the guy who damaged his heart with clenbuterol, damaged his back, abused steroids badly and now drones on and on about locally-grown organic food even though he has no idea what he's talking about.

And yeah, the trick is to let him run his mouth about something. Then challenge him. He'll have some reason for not stepping-up and then he'll spend 10+ pages making stupid comments like the one above to distract people from the inescapable fact that he can't back anything up.

Redscam: Often wrong but never in doubt.