I was talking to a physician friend the other night who is nearing retirement. He and his wife strongly support ObamaCare and are willing to pay higher taxes to help it work. They are huge Obama supporters. We both agree we like the "good" parts of the bill (neither of us has read the entire bill; nor, I doubt, has anyone). I was most concerned with the "cost" side of the ledger. They pretty much blew that off as "it is what it is." And, that is accurate, "it is what it is."
The one takeaway: he felt costs would be held down because "there are only so many providers in the county." That fact just increased your wait time for an appointment. The problem with socialized medicine is that so many visits are unnecessary. I saw that every day in the US Air Force which has socialized medicine. I see that with those on Medicare who apparently have unlimited access for second, third, and fourth opinions for imaginative somatic disorders.
With that, this page will simply be a collection of stories and links as we chronicle the biggest government program since the Depression-era programs.
Physicians: 83% have considered quitting because of ObamaCare. There are very few issues in any democracy in which more than 80% agree.
The rich are fleeing Maryland due to high taxes; increased taxes on the rich resulted in a net loss for Maryland. Wait until ObamaCare kicks in. Some states are going to opt out.
Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Mississippi and Louisiana have rejected two key provisions of the law, according to americanhealthline.com.My hunch is that this is only the beginning. Note: Wisconsin!
Most unions across the nation have obtained a waiver to delay ObamaCare. It will be interesting to see how many opt out and just pay the penalty. If I recall correctly, many major corporations were given a waiver to delay implementation. As noted above, this is a huge opportunity for investors and MBAs: a whole new cottage industry will sprout -- how to circumvent ObamaCare, and how to profit through ObamaCare. Investors, scam artists, and speculators are going to figure out how to tap some of the trillions of dollar off the top of ObamaCare. Should be entertaining to watch. Maybe a whole new blog.
I would encourage anyone who has 14 minutes to listen to Woody Brock's (economist) presentation in November 2009 on healthcare.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sedinc.com/fileadmin/user_upload/ftp_upload/HealthCareReform/player.html
Mike, thank you.
DeleteI also posted the link at a stand-alone post so more folks would see it.