Did I miss my station?
I’ve been riding the Health Train Express for several years. I seem to have missed many stops and find myself at the end of the road. Somewhere in between I have vague recollection of stops along the way, SGR, HMO, PPO, IPA, PQRI, ARHQ, CMS, HITECH, PACA,NHIN, HIE. EMR, RHIO,HHS.
What does it all mean?
Jane M. Orient, M.D., is an On Air contributor speaking on Healthcare Reform. Dr. Orient has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, ABC and many major broadcast venues throughout the US, as well and her Op-eds have been printed in hundreds of local and international newspapers, magazines and followed on major blogs. She has been in solo practice of general internal medicine since 1981 and is a clinical lecturer in medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She received her undergraduate degrees in chemistry and mathematics from the University of Arizona, and her M.D. from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the author of Sapira’s Art and Science of Bedside Diagnosis; the fourth edition has just been published by Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins. She also authored YOUR Doctor Is Not In: Healthy Skepticism about National Health Care, published by Crown. She is the executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, a voice for patients’ and physicians’ independence since 1943. Complete curriculum vitae posted at www.drjaneorient.com. Additional information on health-related issues: www.aapsonline.org and www.takebackmedicine.com
Congress handed the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) some assumptions, the computers came up with the mix of adjustments needed to give a magic number under $1 trillion in 10 years, and the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA
Numbers are thrown about—but where’s a spreadsheet of the money flows? The President couldn’t exercise a line-item veto even if he had one because there aren’t any line items. For example, how can you budget for each of the new bureaucracies if you don’t even know exactly how many there are (159—more or less)? And are they counted in the $1 trillion cost?
This article by Dr Orient succinctly elaborates the incompetence of the ACA (Affordable Care Act) as she writes in The Health Care Blog. It seems to have been written by a legal intern skilled at legalese without thought about a strategy for implementation. Each section is written with the assumption and without regard for the effects of a prior change in the health care system.
Her summation is chilling, and should be read by every American and our congressional representatives, who should have read the bill before voting it’s approval.
PACA needs to be repealed and/or amended drastically. Let’s not give up and roll over. Change is what he wanted, and change is what we will give Obama.