On Memorial Day

    
   

So it is Memorial Day weekend.  A time marking the beginning of Summer, but much more importantly a celebration of those past and present who have sacrificed so much for us all.  The American military, in all its branches, seems to be more respected today than any other moment in my lifetime.  There is an unmistakable pride in the uniform, and those who wear it.  Family members proudly regale stories of loved ones currently or formerly defending our great country.  We relish the chance to say “thanks” to the stranger in uniform we encounter on the street.  It seems everyone loves the armed forces...then why do we seem to be giving them the old sucker punch in the gut when it comes to their health care? 
     Tricare, the current military health system, is under tremendous pressure to morph into ObamaCare.  The liberal ideologues that infest the Obama Administration are holding military families as economic hostages by jacking up Tricare premiums in some cases 70% in an attempt to corral military families into the quagmire of the Obama health exchanges.  Obama is telling America’s finest to pay up or ship out!  And this is not just the rantings of a middle aged baby hatching doctor, listen to the experts:  

   “The Affordable Care Act -- generally known as “Obamacare” -- could lead to increased health complications, emergency room visits and even shorter life spans for some veterans, according to a former under secretary of Health for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
     Dr. Kenneth Kizer, director of the new Institute for Population Health Improvement at the University of California, Davis, Health System, said the ACA’s creation of more healthcare options could cause increased “fragmentation” of care among vets who now rely solely on the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“Some data suggest that veterans receiving care from both VA and non-VA sources are more likely to be re-hospitalized and to die within a year compared with VA-only users,” Kizer wrote last year in a commentary for the Journal of the American Medical Association.”1

     So let’s hear it for the Commander in Cheat once again for giving the troops another great big Memorial Day “we don’t like you” enema to rid their system of one poorly run system and replacing it with an even worse alternative...ObummerCare.

"Free" ain't Free!

    

One of the selling points of Obamacare was mandating insurance companies to cover “preventative” care as a part of every single policy.  While prevention is a great thing, remember, these tests are not free.  They have to be paid for by someone, some way, some how.  The administration says they will be paid for by savings from eliminating fraud and waste, the same savings that so far have more than doubled the cost estimates for implementing the law.  In other words, the preventative care will be payed for by nonexistent savings from folks who are paying anything to start with.  Now there’s some government logic for you.   Realistically we are already seeing how these new mandated coverages will be paid for, by increased premiums!  Insurances have already jacked up premiums 50-75% in some areas in anticipation of the demand for new prevention services, and I can say as a provider they have also cut reimbursements to providers for preventive services.  So, follow this now, the government says every body has a right to a “free” colonoscopy, so docs will be doing a whole bunch more, but at a much reduced rate.  In other words, your “free” colonoscopy will actually cost you more (ala higher co pays and premiums) and because of the volumes, you will have to wait months to get it.  So for 85% of the population that were already getting screenings, you will now get your “free” screenings at a higher cost and with a longer wait.  This bureaucratic ballet will apply not only to a light up your behind but also various other mandated screenings.  A partial list of such is from the Task Force on Preventative Care website:

Pap smears
tobacco counseling
mammograms
obesity screening
diet counseling
depression screening
high blood pressure screening
diabetes screening

    All these things are good things.  I hope that by identifying at risk folks we can eventually head off some morbidity.  But don’t forget, “free” is never free!

Don't be an Obamaton!

    What does Obamacare and a Georgia law stating “donkeys may not be kept in bathtubs” have in common?  40 percent of the population doesn’t know they are both the law of the land! 
    I read with incredulity a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released 2 weeks ago that 40 per cent of the population either doesn’t realize ObamaCare is law or think it has been repealed.  This is like the Duck Dynasty folks saying, “Gee, that income tax stuff, I didn’t realize it meant all of us had to pay taxes”.  So not only is this the most convoluted, confusing, and coercive law in recent history, but almost half of the good folks are not even aware the hammer is dropping.  Good luck in getting these Mensa candidates to fill out the necessary paperwork to get their ObamaCare.  Although I shouldn’t doubt their veracity and ingenuity as these are largely the same group of folks who managed to cop a free Obama phone.
    So just to recap, if you don’t get insurance through your employer, medicare, or medicaid you will have to purchase insurance (i.e. government freebe) through an exchange.  To do that you must fill out a form that until recently was 14 pages long.  Once the government hacks realized that most theoretical physicists had trouble filling out these forms, they “nimbly” consolidated the form to a mere 12 pages for those with a family of four.  A single person in perfect health can even escape with a 5 page form.  However, it’s still not exactly as simple as filling out your food stamp application as, for example, one question which asks for “the lowest cost plan that meets the minimum value standard offered only to the employee.”  Say what?  That’s like asking a chimp to calculate the quantum energy of a quark.  And those privacy fanatics will be overjoyed to know that a majority of the forms are devoted to tax return information and income verification.  Just another government data bank containing your personal information.  And remember Obamatons, this is a mandate not a suggestion.  You have to do it or be fined, made to watch “Ellen” reruns, and possibly given a embarrassing nickname.
    Here’s my take on the paperwork surrounding signing up for Obamassurance.  If you don’t even know it is the law of the land, then you probably will need a consultant to fill out the paperwork...and I am sure Uncle Sam will be happy to oblige.