From the AP, via Yahoo News (emphasis mine):
President Barack Obama's main idea for getting quality health care at less cost was in jeopardy Wednesday after key medical providers called his administration's initial blueprint so complex it's unworkable.Just over a month ago, the administration released long-awaited draft regulations for "accountable care organizations," networks of doctors and hospitals that would collaborate to keep Medicare patients healthier and share in the savings with taxpayers. Obama's health care overhaul law envisioned quickly setting up hundreds of such networks around the county to lead a bottom-up reform of America's bloated health care system.
But in an unusual rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier organizations such as the Mayo Clinic wrote the administration Wednesday saying that more than 90 percent of its members would not participate, because the rules as written are so onerous it would be nearly impossible for them to succeed.
"It's not just a simple tweak, it's a significant change that needs to be made," said Donald Fisher, president of the American Medical Group Association, which represents nearly 400 large medical groups around the country providing care for roughly 1 in 3 Americans. Its members, including the Cleveland Clinic, Intermountain Healthcare in Utah, and Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, had been seen as the vanguard for accountable care.
The medical groups say they are worried they will be left holding the bag for losses, that the government has designed things so there is no easy way to tell which patients are part of the program, and that there's no reliable way to adjust for patients who are sicker and require closer follow-up and more expensive treatments.
The deadline for public comments on the proposed regulations is still weeks away, but Fisher said "we needed to get their attention early on, so (the administration) could be thinking about how major changes are needed to make these regulations viable."
The medical provider umbrella group informed the president that the rules for his "accountable care organizations" are so oppressive and labyrinthine that they would be impossible to implement and still be successful. To the administration's thinking, this is not a bug, but a feature. If ObamaCare actually succeeded in providing increased access to health care for more people at reduced costs, then there wouldn't be any need for the government to intervene later on and take over our entire health care system by putting it all under a government controlled single payer system. We all know Barack Obama has wanted a single payer system all along. ObamaCare was just the stepping stone to getting there.
I'm pretty certain these medical providers know this, which is why they went public and made a splash with their letter that said more than 90% of its members would not participate in these accountable care organizations. I hope by putting the spotlight back onto the disastrous aspects of ObamaCare it will light a fire under the butts of those Republicans who are backing off of the idea of repealing it.



Comments (9)
Big Brother meets Rube Gold... (Below threshold)1. Posted by Walter Cronanty | May 12, 2011 2:54 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Big Brother meets Rube Goldberg. What could go wrong?
1. Posted by Walter Cronanty | May 12, 2011 2:54 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 14:54
2. Posted by Sep14 | May 12, 2011 2:58 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Heh, just like his Presidency. What a coincidence..
2. Posted by Sep14 | May 12, 2011 2:58 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 14:58
3. Posted by Hank | May 12, 2011 3:20 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
So, someone finally had to read the bill.
Give them credit, although we know they had little choice in the matter.
This is what happens when lawyers and political staffs write legislation without knowing what they're doing.
Don't expect Obama to care. He doesn't know what's in the bill either. Besides, he's busy campaigning.
This really should be the death knell for Obamacare, Obama's legacy, and hopefully, the democrat majority in the Senate.
Which brings up one last question....What can they screw up next?
3. Posted by Hank | May 12, 2011 3:20 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 15:20
4. Posted by GarandFan | May 12, 2011 3:46 PM | Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
It's not a BUG, Kim, it's a FEATURE.
ObamaCare was DESIGNED TO FAIL. That way Barry and company could move right on to Single Payer. As you pointed out, that's what they wanted all along. Kathleen Sebelius made no bones about it. To paraphrase her 'It's not a Trojan Horse, it's want we've wanted all along!'
4. Posted by GarandFan | May 12, 2011 3:46 PM |
Score: 5 (5 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 15:46
5. Posted by Gladius | May 12, 2011 3:56 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Hank
Answer to your question...amnesty
5. Posted by Gladius | May 12, 2011 3:56 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 15:56
6. Posted by PBunyan | May 12, 2011 3:59 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Even Obama's own cousin agrees.
6. Posted by PBunyan | May 12, 2011 3:59 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 15:59
7. Posted by retired military | May 12, 2011 4:15 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Come on folks. It works. We just havent spent enough money on it yet.
7. Posted by retired military | May 12, 2011 4:15 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 16:15
8. Posted by epador | May 12, 2011 6:21 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
The ACO's would further consolidate the power of large health care multi-factorial organizations squeezing out the last of smaller provider organizations ( not enough solo folks left to matter). At least that's what they thought. Seems now that they're sweating the details they got cold feet. Imagine that.
8. Posted by epador | May 12, 2011 6:21 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 18:21
9. Posted by liberalNitemare | May 12, 2011 8:21 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Sounds like someone is about to get their white lab coat taken away.
9. Posted by liberalNitemare | May 12, 2011 8:21 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on May 12, 2011 20:21