Category Archives: Healthcare Reform

As physicians, what are your opinions on healthcare reform and how the government is wrestling its way in our lives? Does the government have a right to impose new healthcare regulations upon the people in the name of imparting universal health care to all its citizens? Throughout this long debate on healthcare, physicians have been on one side of the fence or the other.

Will you still be practicing medicine by the time the healthcare Reform Bill takes effect? Many physicians are unsure where they will be by the time 2014 rolls around. Where will you be? What will the state of your medical practice be in?

The Affordable Care Act was signed into law in March 2010. This act provides physicians with a “year-by-year series of initiatives impacting their patients and their practice.” Do you know what these initiatives are and how prepared are you for them?

Through the current recession, how has your practice fared?  As the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, has your practice struggled to deal with the changes taking place? Check out this 2011 staff salary survey, 2011 Staff Salary Survey  

For 60 years, the Feres Doctrine has shielded military medical personnel from malpractice lawsuits.  Veterans and military families have opposed this law. A recent medical malpractice incident where an Air Force Sergeant died during a routine appendectomy has brought this law to be challenged.  If you’d like to read more about this case, check out [...]

A ruling last week from a federal judge threw out the challenge brought by a man in his 60’s who claimed that healthcare reform would make him lose coverage from Medicare Advantage.  The federal judge threw this challenge out, ruling that the plaintiff did not have “standing to challenge the healthcare reform law.” For more [...]

The Affordable Care Act has been enacted in Washington. Now the debate has turned to each individual state as they try to “implement the new health insurance reforms effectively and efficiently.” The struggle will be that the states ensure that all health benefits “flow seamlessly and affordable access is established.”

One in ten dollars will be spent (within the health care system) utilized on defensive medicine and frivolous lawsuits. “This is due in part to investors and hedge funds seizing on medical liability lawsuits in order to reap the rewards that should be going directly to injured patients.”

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), expanding Medicaid will add costs to states of at least $118 billion (through 2023). This is a higher estimate of costs than what was originally estimated. These new estimates were recently released in a report from House and Senate Republicans. Who is covered by Medicaid? At this present time, almost 54 million Americans.

Republicans in the House are claiming that they will keep their campaign promises to repeal the health care law. They plan to do this before President Obama’s State of the Union address in January. What happens if their plans fail, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan claims the GOP Leaders will “go after the bill piece by piece…we will look at these individual pieces to see if we can’t have the thing crumble.”

The courts spoke out about the Constitutionality or lack thereof of the health care mandate. The debate begins all over again as supporters of a health care plan to cover all Americans spring into action and those that don’t support this issue are at odds with them. Is it possible to have health care reform without the mandate?

Recently, Senators have criticized mini-med health policies because they claim they are limited in benefits to the insured’s. According to a FierceHealthcare article, “More than one million Americans hold such policies.” Senator Barbara Boxer has called these policies, “Sham policies.”

In the Michigan federal court, the legitimacy of the health care reform law has been sustained. However, a Florida federal court judge has advised that the 20 state lawsuit can move forward. The lawsuit has been brought because these states oppose the government mandate that by 2014, every American must purchase medical insurance or pay a fine. These states maintain that this is a violation of their civil rights.

Now that health care reform has been passed do you know what to do and how this will affect your medical practice? Are you prepared for the provisions that are already being implemented and the aspects of this law which you will see applied in the years to come?

Various challengers of Virginia’s healthcare reform law have been called extremist and that “killing the legislation would hurt Americans.” Should the Government be allowed to pass legislation requiring Americans to purchase health insurance? If this is enforced, would they easily pass further legislation to require Americans to purchase other products?

It’s no secret that hospital cafeterias do not serve the best food, but there is a growing trend that hospitals are beginning to start serving more nutritious food. In Wisconsin, two ThedaCare hospitals are taking the lead in putting healthier food on their menus. After banning the deep fryer, bacon and donuts are no longer an option; neither are “super-sized meals and drinks.” Canned fruit and frozen vegetables have been replaced with fresh produce.

Safety-net hospitals in Massachusetts are set to receive $435 million in aid over the next two years. $335 million will be coming from the Federal Government and $100 million will be coming from the State Government.

Contrary to earlier figures, the new projected number of doctor shortages by 2015, one year after all of the health care reform takes place, is approximately 63,000. Earlier projections had the numbers at around 40,000.

The MMA claims that physicians should stop bickering with each other and work together. The FMA is upset because they say that every medical organization should be allowed to declare what they believe and not have to deal with criticism from other medical organizations.

Well, those “safety net” hospitals that treat uninsured patients with lower incomes are experiencing a huge financial crisis right now since they did not receive more Government money through the national health care reform. Is this a glimpse into the future of our Country with the new health care reform?

Jackson Healthcare conducted a survey of how physicians feel about healthcare reform. Further surveys were then completed on “the economic and non-economic impacts of defensive medicine on physicians and patients.”

The New York Times is reporting that a hospital in Atlanta, GA is going to be networking with a medical service provider to offer medical services, like dialysis, to illegal immigrants who are in the final stages of renal kidney failure. Is this how the new Obama care is going now?

So let me get this straight…if you disagree with Obama care you now have to worry about threats from this Administration? Is this Administration really going to follow through on wielding their power to bully health insurers and try to wipe them out? Doesn’t freedom of speech and speaking the truth matter anymore?

Recent polls indicate that support for the new health care law is slipping. Americans are not happy with this new health care law, especially not excited about the individual mandate where they will be forced to purchase a health insurance policy, whether they want to or not.

Critics say the current privacy rules do not protect patients. Hospital administrators and insurance companies lean towards keeping the laws as they are. The Obama Administration is working on rewriting those laws in regard to patients being notified of a breach in privacy over patient’s records. The real question is in the language and how does one define the “harm” done in such a breach of privacy with regard to patients and their records?

How are you feeling so far now that we’re five months into this health reform system? Have you embraced the change yet? Well, the White House is asking you and every American physician to embrace this new health reform system. Is that something that you can do? Where do you find yourself in regard to this matter…which side of the fence are you on?