American Elephants

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch)—

Once provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act start to kick in during 2014, at least three of every 10 employers will probably stop offering health coverage, a survey released Monday shows.

While only 7% of employees will be forced to switch to subsidized-exchange programs, at least 30% of companies say they will “definitely or probably” stop offering employer-sponsored coverage, according to a study published in McKinsey Quarterly.

The survey of 1,300 employers says that those who are keenly aware of the health-reform legislation are more likely to consider an alternative to employer-sponsored plans, with 50% to 60% expected to make a change.  It also found that for some, it makes more sense to switch.

A third of employers would gain economically from dropping coverage, even if they compensated employees for the change through other benefit offerings or higher salaries, according to the study.  More than 85% of employees would remain at their jobs even if employer-sponsored coverage was no longer offered, although 60% would expect higher salaries.

The Democrats assured each other that ObamaCare would lead to single-payer government-run healthcare.  This has been their dream. It’s very clear that there is nothing there that will improve health care.  We have examples in profusion from Britain’s National Health Care (and their NICE rationing board), from Canada, from France, from Germany of absurdly long waits to see a doctor, to see a specialist, to schedule an operation. Why are Leftists so determined to push a system that makes everything worse?  It will be diminished care at vastly higher cost.  Why do they want this? The only answer I can come up with is power and control.

Late Monday, a White House spokesman took issue with the survey, citing other opinions about the promise of ObamaCare. But then the White House always has a ‘different’ story.

The health-care industry is currently spending billions to create electronic health records, but the tech-gamble that is supposed to save money and improve the efficiency of American medicine is looking more like another $30 billion boondoggle. In theory it was going to allow any patient to walk into any emergency room anywhere in the country, and have their entire medical history right at hand. Save money by avoiding duplicate tests. The thousands of new systems may never be able to communicate with each other.

According to my doctor’s office, it doesn’t seem to be working.  I was in yesterday, and they couldn’t find my records at all. The intrusive paperwork is about 5 times more than usual, and now, since it’s the feds, they want to know your ethnic background as well as everything else. If doctors and providers don’t meet the federal milestones, they may not get paid. The National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine issued a 273 page report about “seamless interoperability. They’re dubious. Privacy and security are big problems.

Hospitals are increasingly skeptical of the new ObamaCare Medicare payment scheme. The pay for performance scheme and “value-based purchasing” will see payments redistributed based on performance scores calculated according to the methodology chosen by the Obama Administration.  Payments will be reduced across the board to a new lower “base” payment, after which hospitals could receive “bonuses” for performing well on the quality measures. Evidence-based medicine is a theory that the proper treatment for any condition can be determined by bureaucrats and physicians will be rewarded for treating patients “correctly.”

How about some “evidence-based” lawmaking, in which Congressmen have to prove that they are capable of considering evidence thoroughly and completely before they get to actually make any regulations?