Repeal and Replace Obamacare?

[Giant Communist Robot]

Which means rationing and "death panels,"

I'm gonna be on my neighborhood death squad!

[Haggis@wk]

On Thursday evening, Matt Drudge and Real Clear Politics featured a video of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on socialized medicine:

“With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to health care, you have realize what that implies. It’s not an abstraction. I’m a physician. That means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me. It means you believe in slavery.”

Presumably Think Progress is having kittens over Paul’s quote, since they clipped it for YouTube. All I can do is shrug and quote from Dr. Hendricks: “Let them discover the kind of doctors that their system will now produce.”

[piqaboo]

Does the hippocratic oath allow for passing by the side, as the good samaritan clause does re CPR?

[Haggis@wk]

Survey: Access to primary care lagging in Mass.

The telephone survey of 838 doctors conducted in February and March found that 51 percent of internists are not accepting new patients, up from 49 percent the previous year. Fifty-three percent of family physicians, the other major group of primary care doctors, were also not taking new patients.

Even for patients fortunate enough to have a primary care doctor, waits for appointments continued to be lengthy. The average wait for an appointment with an internist was 48 days, which was five days shorter than last year, but the average wait for family medicine was 36 days, a week longer than in the 2010 survey...

...An ongoing shortage of new primary care physicians entering the system was cited as the principal reason for why so many existing ones had simply stopped accepting new patients...

...The study also found that while the vast majority of primary care physicians in Massachusetts accepted Medicare, only 53 percent of internists and 62 percent of family physicians accepted MassHealth, the state's Medicaid plan.

Only 43 percent of internists and 56 percent of family physicians accepted Commonwealth Care, the state administered program that provides subsidized care for those earning up to three times the federal poverty level.

....But Obamacare will be different.

[jamiebk]

lik it or not something has got to change with health care. Currenlty we have parents taking kids to the ER and calling 911 for nosebleeds and scraped knees and I am not exaggerating. Geez Louise, this whole health care entitlement mentality has got to change. We build more and more hospitals and clinics and still wait for months because of overcrowding due to petty stuff as mentioned. All because "its covered".

[Haggis@wk]

lik it or not something has got to change with health care. Currenlty we have parents taking kids to the ER and calling 911 for nosebleeds and scraped knees and I am not exaggerating. Geez Louise, this whole health care entitlement mentality has got to change. We build more and more hospitals and clinics and still wait for months because of overcrowding due to petty stuff as mentioned. All because "its covered".

I agree, right now the Average insured American pays twelve cents for every health care dollar spent. I think there are a lot of things that can help, including a reasonable expectation to pay more for routine medical care (exempting the truly catastrophic expenses)

The average health care company’s profit margins are small, 2-3% and our politicians still demonize them. When the last time we demonized the “big grocery industry” for expecting a reasonable return on their investments?

There are lots of good things we can do for health care to make it more manageable and cost efficient; Obamacare ain’t one of them

[Giant Communist Robot]

The average health care company’s profit margins are small, 2-3%

Demonizing the insurance companies doesn't go to the root of the problem. We'll get the solution we deserve, but will we be happy with that?

[Haggis@wk]

Over the past month, the Department of Health and Human Services approved another 204 waivers to insurance plans that don’t meet the federal mandates of ObamaCare. That brings the total to 1372 waivers. While Maine is the first state to get a waiver, three other states — New Hampshire, Nevada and Kentucky — have pending waiver applications.

The Obama administration approved 204 new waivers to Democrats’ healthcare reform law over the past month, bringing the total to 1,372. …

Administration officials say the law allows the Health and Human Services Department to grant the waivers to avoid disrupting the insurance market before the law overhauls the insurance system in 2014. They say the waivers are granted through a transparent process.

“Transparent”? Not unless we’re defining “transparent” as “opaque,” “war” as “peace,” and insisting that Oceania has never been at war with Eastasia, Winston.

When do we decide that, even if it was a good idea (and it wasn’t), Obamacare is too flawed and we need to start over?

[Haggis@wk]

Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers go to gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district.

[Haggis@wk]

Once provisions of the 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.

I suspect the percentage is low as more and more industries in the same catagory cut medical care. This, and the power over our lives, was always the goal of Obamacare.

[Haggis@wk]

What medical treatments will the government approve, in the future, for the aging population of America?

Two years ago, President Obama let it slip that cheap painkillers would supervene more expensive cures. And here's a new, low-price palliative for the oldies

[Haggis@wk]

DO-IT-YOURSELF HEALTH CARE REFORM:

“Dr. Forrest runs a cash-only practice sees 16 patients a day at a maximum, works a 40 hour week and takes home more than the average family physician a year with a highly satisfied patient base that pays less than those in fee-for-service, insurance models.”

I’ve written before that my former physician has gone the “Galt” route and dropped out of the traditional health care model and set up in private practice similar to this. I expect we will see more of this (no government oversight) if Obamacare finally does become the law of the land.

[Giant Communist Robot]

if Obamacare finally does become the law of the land.

I'm not sure this is gonna happen; there seem too many possible legal challenges.

[piqaboo]

Even in private practice, not accepting insurance payments, etc, there is gov't oversight (and AMA oversight) of medical practice/practioners.

My friend's been using a physician like this for several years. They pay $2k to 'enroll', $150 for an annual exam (which is mandatory or the MD drops you from the practice), but in return that annual exam includes some interesting extras apparently. Me, I remain grateful for the employer-provided health insurance that paid most of what it cost to keep OT in a single room/isolation for 10 days, w all that entails. And I am fearful it will go away as soon as they can figure out how to obamacare us, while still having us work with known nasties (HIV, HBV etc positive blood, TB bugs, etc).

[Haggis@wk]

Even in private practice, not accepting insurance payments, etc, there is gov't oversight (and AMA oversight) of medical practice/practioners.

Uh, no, there isn't. It is the same as "laser eye" surgery......there is NO government oversight, none, nada, zilch. Strange isn't it? He only has to meet the requirements to keep his state issued license. Which means he has to prove to the state that 1. he graduated from a medical school and 2. he's still alive.

I remain grateful for the employer-provided health insurance that paid most of what it cost to keep OT in a single room/isolation for 10 days

and all, I mean ALL, of that goes away under O'care.

Your company can't wait to dump health care from it's employee menu. I want you to start counting the days from 01/01/12 before you get a letter stating the same; you will.

From Obama’s FDA:

The only over-the-counter asthma inhaler sold in the United States will no longer be available next year as part of an international agreement to stop the use of substances that damage the environment.

Primatene Mist (epinephrine) is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the temporary relief of occasional symptoms of mild asthma. FDA urges those who use Primatene Mist to see a health care professional soon to switch to another asthma medicine.
Primatene Mist inhalers are being discontinued because they use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as a propellant (spray) to move the medicine out of the inhaler so patients can breathe the medicine into their lungs.

I’m asthmatic. I rely on “rescue” inhalers. True, most are prescription inhalers, but that just means I can afford to see a doctor and get a prescription; many of my fellow sufferers (most?) can’t and rely Primatene.

Truth be known, I have Primatene because it has "epi" and works faster than any other rescue inhaler but if I keep it next year I’ll be a criminal under “Obamacare”

[Shapley]

...but if I keep it next year I’ll be a criminal under “Obamacare”

Only if you try to sell it. But it does have an expiration date.

The 'war on drugs' is costing us dearly, as well. Pseudoephedrine, which has been available 'over the counter' since its inception, is being pushed, city by city, county by county, state by state, into prescription status because it is used in the production of meth. As a result, a drug that used to cost a couple dollars per bottle now requires a visit to the doctor for a prescription in a growing number of locations.

There is also a move to remove many over-the-counter cold medicines, if they contain Acetaminophen, because of the danger of overdose.

There seems to be a steady movement towards prescription requirements - which necessitates a doctor's involvement - in the treatment of common ailments. I don't blame this on 'Obamacare', because it actually predates it. It is, as I see it, an effort by government, probably aided by the medical lobby, to increase the cost of health care by increasing the demand for access to medical professionals.

Of course, the intentions are always good, being focused on our own best interests and all...

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

..There seems to be a steady movement towards prescription requirements - which necessitates a doctor's involvement - in the treatment of common ailments....

Huh?
Many commonly available OTC meds were formerly prescription-only items. Even pseudoephedrine - which is different from the ephedrine in Haggis' inhaler - is non-prescription. It's just been moved to behind-the-counter locations and an adult has to ask for it. Quantities are also monitored.

My naproxyn anti-inflammatory used to be prescription. It's now in the grocery store. Benedryl, and Claritin, and many other allergy medications, are now easily available without a prescription.

[Shapley]

[Huh?

Many commonly available OTC meds were formerly prescription-only items. Even pseudoephedrine - which is different from the ephedrine in Haggis' inhaler - is non-prescription. It's just been moved to behind-the-counter locations and an adult has to ask for it. Quantities are also monitored.

My naproxyn anti-inflammatory used to be prescription. It's now in the grocery store. Benedryl, and Claritin, and many other allergy medications, are now easily available without a prescription.

As I noted in my post, pseudoephedrine is being made to require a prescription in some municipalities, counties, and states, in the name of the war on meth. It is not being done at the national level and, I gather from your post, not in California. Oregon currently requires a prescription. Missouri, Illinois, West Virgina, are among the states considering requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine. Denver is also considering it. Pseudoephedrine has always been non-prescription prior to this.

From what I gather from Haggis' post, the EPA is the vehicle being used to limit the only non-prescription inhalor.

There are a number of drugs that have been released as OTC, such as Prilosec OTC. This is done by the FDA, and impacts the drugs on the national level. However, states retain the right (as they should) to regulate sales on the local level, and this is where the move towards prescription appears to be happening.

It's worth noting that the move from Prescription to OTC benefits insurance plans that offer prescription drug plans (including Medicare), since most will not cover the cost of OTC medications, nor of prescription drugs when an OTC equivalent exists.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Okaay, then, we'll smuggle you some generic acetaminophen from California, the nanny state. Since you can't get it in freedom-lovin' Missouri. Would you like some Nyquil to go with that? I don't recommend taking them together, though. You'll kill your liver.

[Haggis@wk]

Okaay, then, we'll smuggle you some generic acetaminophen from California, the nanny state. Since you can't get it in freedom-lovin' Missouri. Would you like some Nyquil to go with that? I don't recommend taking them together, though. You'll kill your liver.

My prescription Allegra went from $3 for three months worth to nearly $25 for two months worth OTC at Wal-mart.