Obamacare Update

As usual, Democrats are still hiding from constituents behind phone calls and union doors, and tapping their union thugs-for-hire to deliberately disrupt Republican town halls. And where is Dear Leader? On vacation. And it's not just any vacation...he's actually stated that he doesn't want to be bothered.

Nice. I'm sure all those Dems hiding from their constituents appreciate that kind of leadership.

While Obama is off playing and the Dems are out hiding, here are some other Obamacare stories that are worth checking out:

The Democrats Republicans offer seniors a health care bill of rights
Fact checking the myths Obama pushes
Oh, about that death book Obama reinstated...
The false choice of excessive profits
Um...yes, Obamacare will provide abortions on the taxpayer dime

And now I'd like to take another look around the world at some wonderful examples of how Obamacare will almost certainly play out here in America. Some excerpts...

Britain

...the most shocking thing was not the lying. Nor even the incompetence. It was our total lack of surprise at the turn of events, since after 15 years suffering from the failings of the National Health Service we are prepared for almost any ineptitude.

Of course, everyone loves the NHS now. It is officially sacrosanct. Our doctors are deities, our health care the envy of the world. And anyone who says anything different is an unpatriotic schmuck who should go and join those losers in the United States. (Although American doctors terrified of litigation would have done all the tests possible on my daughter if I'd sufficient insurance, and would think twice about lying to patients.)

So forgive a harsh dose of reality. I used to share these delusional views, wrapped in a comforting blanket of national pride over Bevan's legacy. But that was before the birth of our daughter sent us hurtling into the hell of our health service. Since then, hours and days and months and years have been spent battling bureaucracy, fighting lethargy and observing inefficiency while all the time guarding against the latest outbreak of incompetence. (link)

...

The question is whether increasing political control would improve the treatment of patients--which is, after all, the purpose of the health care system The answer to that question is no.

People arriving at Accident and Emergency departments with symptoms which could indicate the aggressive spread of the disease are waiting weeks for diagnosis and treatment while "routine" cases are prioritised.

Hospital managers told researchers that treating desperately sick patients more quickly would "reflect badly" on their performance against Government cancer targets which only cover those referred to specialists by GPs.

Doctors, patients groups and politicians were appalled by what one described as a "breathtaking admission" which confirmed their "very worst fears" about how far the NHS target culture has gone in distorting clinical priorities.

The point is not to demonize the British system. But obviously the NHS has to fulfill political targets and respond to bureaucratic priorities, which often have nothing to do with, or even actively subvert the objective of, providing quality patient care. (link)

Terrific!

Canada

...a Vancouver Coastal Health Authority document shows it is considering chopping more than 6,000 surgeries in an effort to make up for a dramatic budgetary shortfall that could reach $200 million.

According to the leaked document, Vancouver Coastal — which oversees the budget for Vancouver General and St. Paul’s hospitals, among other health-care facilities — is looking to close nearly a quarter of its operating rooms starting in September and to cut 6,250 surgeries, including 24 per cent of cases scheduled from September to March and 10 per cent of all medically necessary elective procedures this fiscal year.

The plan proposes cutbacks to neurosurgery, ophthalmology, vascular surgery, and 11 other specialized areas.

As many of 112 full-time jobs — including 13 anesthesiologist positions — would be affected by the reductions, the document says.
...
The incoming president of the Canadian Medical Association says this country's health-care system is sick and doctors need to develop a plan to cure it.

"We all agree that the system is imploding, we all agree that things are more precarious than perhaps Canadians realize..."
...
Hospitals in border cities, including Detroit, are forging lucrative arrangements with Canadian health agencies to provide care not widely available across the border.

Agreements between Detroit hospitals and the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care for heart, imaging tests, bariatric and other services provide access to some services not immediately available in the province, said ministry spokesman David Jensen.

The agreements show how a country with a national care system -- a proposal not part of the health care changes under discussion in Congress -- copes with demand for care with U.S. partnerships, rather than building new facilities.
...
Dany Mercado, a leukemia patient from Kitchener, Ontario, is cancer-free after getting a bone marrow transplant at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit.

Told by Canadian doctors in 2007 he couldn't have the procedure there, Mercado's family and doctor appealed to Ontario health officials, who agreed to let him have the transplant in Detroit in January 2008.

The Karmanos Institute is one of several Detroit health facilities that care for Canadians needing services not widely available in Canada.

Canada, for example, has waiting times for bariatric procedures to combat obesity that can stretch to more than five years, according to a June report in the Canadian Journal of Surgery.

As a result, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in April designated 13 U.S. hospitals, including five in Michigan and one more with a tentative designation, to perform bariatric surgery for Canadians.

The agreements provide "more immediate services for patients whose health is at risk," Jensen said.

Sound good to you? Now, the multi-trillion dollar question: if we go the way of Canadian health care, where to Americans go to get those 'immediate services' whose health is 'at risk'?

Hmmm...

For lots of examples of the disaster that is socialized health care around the world, go here (h/t Dial R for Infinity).

But, once again, we can look even closer to home: Maine.

In 2003, the state to great fanfare enacted its own version of universal health care. Democratic Governor John Baldacci signed the plan into law with a bevy of familiar promises. By 2009, it would cover all of Maine’s approximately 128,000 uninsured citizens. System-wide controls on hospital and physician costs would hold down insurance premiums. There would be no tax increases. The program was going to provide insurance for everyone and save businesses and patients money at the same time.

Here’s how the program was supposed to work. Two government programs would cover the uninsured. First the legislature greatly expanded MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program. Today Maine families with incomes of up to $44,000 a year are eligible; 22% of the population is now in Medicaid, roughly twice the national average.

Then the state created a “public option” known as DirigoChoice. (Dirigo is the state motto, meaning “I Lead.”) This plan would compete with private plans such as Blue Cross. To entice lower income Mainers to enroll, it offered taxpayer-subsidized premiums. The plan’s original funding source was $50 million of federal stimulus money the state got in 2003. Over time, the plan was to be “paid for by savings in the health-care system.” This is precisely the promise of ObamaCare. Maine saved by squeezing payments to hospitals and physicians.

The program flew off track fast. At its peak in 2006, only about 15,000 people had enrolled in the DirigoChoice program. That number has dropped to below 10,000, according to the state’s own reporting. About two-thirds of those who enrolled already had insurance, which they dropped in favor of the public option and its subsidies. Instead of 128,000 uninsured in the program today, the actual number is just 3,400. Despite the giant expansions in Maine’s Medicaid program and the new, subsidized public choice option, the number of uninsured in the state today is only slightly lower that in 2004 when the program began.

Why did this happen? Among the biggest reasons is a severe adverse selection problem: The sickest, most expensive patients crowded into DirigoChoice, unbalancing its insurance pool and raising costs. That made it unattractive for healthier and lower-risk enrollees. And as a result, few low-income Mainers have been able to afford the premiums, even at subsidized rates.

This problem was exacerbated because since the early 1990s Maine has required insurers to adhere to community rating and guaranteed issue, which requires that insurers cover anyone who applies, regardless of their health condition and at a uniform premium. These rules—which are in the Obama plan—have relentlessly driven up insurance costs in Maine, especially for healthy people.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center, which has tracked the plan closely, points out that largely because of these insurance rules, a healthy male in Maine who is 30 and single pays a monthly premium of $762 in the individual market; next door in New Hampshire he pays $222 a month. The Granite State doesn’t have community rating and guaranteed issue.

One proposal to get people into the DirigoChoice system is to reduce the premiums, presumably to give the uninsured a larger incentive to join. But that would explode the program’s costs when it already can’t pay its bills. A program that was supposed to save money by reducing health-care waste and inefficiencies has seen a 74% increase in premiums. But even those inflated payments can’t keep the program out of the red.

Hot Air offers this analysis of the situation:

It didn’t take long for the weaknesses of the program to make themselves evident. The ’self-sustaining’ formulas were built upon faulty assumptions, and Maine taxpayers have been paying the price ever since.

...to preserve Governor John Baldacci’s legacy, my insurance premiums are being taxed, and the legislature attempted to tax soda, wine and beer, which violated Baldacci’s campaign promise not to raise taxes. (Sound familiar?) Maine voters overwhelmingly rejected that tax, leaving the administration to look for other sources of revenue. One of the ideas under consideration? A $100,000 a year cap on benefits.

In addition, Maine’s bureaucrats are making it harder for hospitals to treat patients with their central planning view of the role of government.

According to the US Census bureau, Maine has a population of only 1.3 million. The Dirigo health plan insures only 9,472. This state is unable to run or find enough money to fund a program that insures only 0.7% of the state’s population. ObamaCare has many of the same provisions and funding formulas...

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Obamacare is literally insane, and it will have economically and fatally disastrous consequences.

There's my two cents.