For anyone in doubt about how the Obama regime plans to “control health care costs,” I recommend this piece about the DOJ’s heavy-handed coercion of Idaho doctors:
Today the Antitrust Division, joined by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, forced a a group of Boise orthopedists to accept price controls for worker’s compensation and HMO contracts as part of a settlement accusing the doctors of “price fixing.�
That’s right. The DOJ accused these physicians of engaging in a “price-fixing” conspiracy because they wanted to have some say in the amount they are paid for their services.
So, to get the federal boot off their collective neck, the docs signed a ”settlement” that allows them to ask “How high?” when the government says “jump.” This is as Orwellian as it gets:
The Justice Department has unambiguously stated that refusal to accept government price controls is a form of illegal ‘price fixing.’
This is indeed strange, but the main point is that the government’s “cost control” mechanism doesn’t even pretend to address costs. It merely controls how much money providers get paid.
Doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, drug companies, etc. will all be subject to such controls under Obamacare. And the end result will be what price controls always produce—shortages.
The wages of Obamacare will be lower than cost, so many providers will simply decline to provide. Doctors will retire, hospitals will close, insurance companies will sell life instead of health insurance.
Patients will have trouble (like Medicare beneficiaries) fnding doctors and the drive to the nearest ER will get longer (So what if you die on the way?). But hey, everyone will be “covered.”
[ht We Stand Firm]
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