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Obamacare Deceptions Keep Coming

November 24, 2014

inDisinformation and the healthcare system, Medicine: Healthcare System, Politicians,Healthcare and Vested Interests, Stakeholder Abuse of the Healthcare System, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

President Obama and CMS have been extremely quiet about Health Insurance Exchange enrollment since enrollment opened November 15,2014

President Obama reported that on opening day the health insurance marketplace performed much better than last year. However, some consumers reported long, frustrating delays trying to buy insurance and gain access to their own accounts at HealthCare.gov.

Consumers there were having a hard time logging into their accounts, retrieving old passwords and proving they were who they said they were — a process known as identity proofing, which also vexed many people last fall.

Some people did complete their applications, but it often took them 90 minutes. Some people were unable to finish what they started, so they left the clinic with plans to return at another time.

The insurance exchanges are supposed to be the centerpiece of Obamacare.

Ms.Sylvia Burwell, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services said, “23,000 people had completed online applications in the first eight hours after HealthCare.gov, the federal website, opened on Saturday morning.”

Twenty three thousand is a low number for a 45-day enrollment period with four days each at Thanksgiving and Christmas. It is only 1,035,000 enrollees (45 x 23,000). We do not know if they are new or old enrollees.

Ms. Sylvia Burwell has given us signals previously that all is not well with Obamacare.

The estimate of total enrollees (old and new) for the end of the 2015 enrollment period was lowered from 13 million to 9 million. If 8 million were enrolled in 2014 this is only an increase of 1 million new enrollees.

There were clearly not 8 million valid enrollees when President Obama did his victory lap at the end of the extended enrollment period on March 31,2014.

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It was later announced that 85% of enrollees were to receive subsidies (tax credit). The tax credits were to make the insurance premiums affordable to enrollees earning less than $50,000 a year.

It turned out that 65% of those approved for subsidies originally had the subsidy reduced when they could not verify their claimed income.

The American taxpayers, who are responsible for the subsidy (tax credit), were never told how the government was going to collect the government over payment. Taxpayers were never told the amount of payment due from people who received the invalid subsidies.

How many of those over subsidized people dropped out of Obamacare because they could not afford the premium or the deductible.

How many enrollees remained from the 8 million claimed to have enrolled?

Somehow the published number of enrollees dropped to 7.3 million. Did the decrease from 8 million to 7.3 million include the over subsidized dropouts?

I should think an inspector general or someone in congress would start connecting the dots.

I would think the CBO would recalculate their estimates.

I should think someone in the press would sense there was something fishy and start investigating.

Last week it was discovered that 400,000 people were counted in the total enrollment number that did not buy healthcare insurance. The 400,000 enrolled for low cost dental insurance.

This new revelation lowered the total number of claimed enrollees to 6.9 million from the 7.3 million claimed enrollees.

Kathleen Sibelius declared over a year ago that Obamacare would have to have over seven million enrollees to be viable and declared successful.

In a previous blog my estimate of valid enrollees for 2014 was 3 million. I have also pointed out that the healthcare insurance industry is not worried about the number of enrollees because if they lose money the government would bale them out and subsidized the difference.

The loser is the taxpayer. We have been paying a tax increase of more than 10% for Obamacare since 2010.

The public has not yet seen any numbers proving Obamacare’ s viability or it’s bending of the cost curve.

We have seen patients complaining that they cannot afford the 6-10 thousand dollar deductibles of the health insurance policies. People have realized that they are not covered by insurance until they reach their deductibles. People have been hesitant to get necessary medical care in order to avoid paying the deductibles.

The Obama administration claims to have reduced healthcare costs. The administration does not count the patient’s deductible costs (out of pocket costs) in their bogus calculation of costs to the healthcare system.

The avoidance of follow-up care by patients with pre-existing illnesses (chronic diseases) is only going to lead to complications of those chronic disease and higher societal healthcare costs.

Lowering the goal for the number of enrollees to 9 million if only there are only 3 million valid enrollees that stayed in the system is going to be a very difficult task.

The changing of the date to begin open enrollment from October 1 to November 15 for political reasons is not going to help achieve the goal.

President Obama will probably extend the enrollment period from December 15,2014.

The Obama administration already announced the 2016 open enrollment period. It starts October 1 2015 and ends December 15, 2015.

There is a great website that calculates the estimated weekly enrollment and actual enrollment. Enrollment is not going very well. President Obama and his administration are very quiet about the enrollment. The mainstream traditional media is also ignoring enrollment.

The website is, http://acasignups.net

As of 11/21/2014 the website reports confirmed enrollees for 2015 QHPs: at least 39,215 have enrolled as of 11/21/14 as opposed to the government estimated enrollees for 2015 QHPs of at least 410,000 as of 11/21/14.

No one is paying attention to the website. The Obama administration is not providing the information necessary for consumers to judge how well Obamacare enrollment is doing.

Ms. Burwell said,

Ms. Burwell said that attention should be on all of the people who now have health insurance, rather than the miscalculation.

“While we understand some will be skeptical, our clarity that this is mistake and the fact that we have quickly corrected the numbers should give people confidence,” she said. “It is important to continue to focus on the fact that millions of Americans are getting affordable health care.”

The Obama administration persists in trying to distract the American public.

I think the Obama administration continues to believe, as Jonathan Gruber believes, that Americans are too stupid to understand what the administration is doing.

The administration wants to prove that the free market and private insurance cannot provide healthcare coverage for all that only total government control of the healthcare system can work.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone

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More Bad News For Obamacare And Taxpayers

July 13, 2014

inDisinformation and the healthcare system, Medicine: Healthcare System, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE

The Obama administration and the traditional mainstream media are working very hard to keep the bad news about Obamacare away from the general public.

The Colorado exchange (Connect for Health Colorado) expects nearly 24% of the enrollees to drop health exchange coverage in fiscal 2015.

This is a direct contradiction to the Obama administration’s projection of the growth of health insurance exchanges.

“In April 2014 after open enrollement closed, the staff of Connect for Colorado projected 13 percent of people enrolled will drop or not pay for policies in fiscal 2015, but now they are expecting about 24 percent to drop their policies, according to the latest model.”

“And in fiscal 2016, the revised figures show dropped policies going from the 16 percent projected in April to nearly 22 percent.”

The Colorado Health Insurance Exchange’s chief financial officer Cammie Blais said the staff is using the higher drop rate in more recent models because that is how national figures are tracking.

President Obama and the Obama administration are aware of these figures. As usual they are keeping it from the public.

Why is happening nationally? There are multiple reasons.

Eighty five percent of the people who have enrolled have qualified for subsidies on the basis of the information they gave on the enrollment form.

The federal government was not set up to verify the information given on the enrollment form at the time of enrollment.

President Obama told everyone he would take his or her word for the information’s accuracy. This was a tremendous defect in the Obamacare system.

Many enrollees are going to lose part or the total subsidy provided by Obamacare. For some, the original subsidy was not enough to reduce the burden of insurance. In many cases the burden included high deductibles and copays that were unaffordable.

Many of the remaining fifteen percent of the enrollees had preexisting illnesses and could not buy insurance on the open market and/or were making over $50,000 a year.

Their premiums plus deductibles and copays are so high that enrollees making over $50,000 a year realize they cannot afford the insurance and have to drop out of next year’s exchange.

As a result of this adverse selection healthcare insurance industry’s premiums are going to skyrocket in 2015 as they have skyrocketed in 2014.

If the government starts convincing the majority of the public that the free market solution of the health insurance exchanges doesn’t work, the only choice will be a single party payer system for the entire population.

The VA system is an example of a single party payer system run by the government. It is a bureaucratic mess that is inevitable with a government run single party payer system.

A large bureaucratic single party payer systems relying on rules and regulations will end up with as non-transparent bureaucracy built for the benefit of the bureaucrats and not the people.

I think the public understands this. I think the Obama government is out of touch with the people.

President Obama ought to reexamine his premises.

The Obamacare system being built is destined to fail. It is not a consumer driven free market system. It does not follow that a single party payer system will work.

In reality none of the government controlled single party payer systems throughout the world work. They are just free. However, these systems are unsustainable.

The 8 million enrollees that President Obama ran his Obamacare victory lap on continues to dwindle at an accelerated rate.

If the DC appeals court rules against the federal government ability to provide subsidies, the number of enrollees will decrease even further.

The law states that only State health insurance exchanges can provide subsidies.

Obamacare is getting further and further away from being functional.

The Obama administration and the traditional media are working very hard to keep this information from the general public.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.  Please have a friend subscribe

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Obamacare Drives Premiums Up In 45 Of 50 States

October 20, 2013

inConsumer Driven Health Care, Medicine: Healthcare System, Politicians,Healthcare and Vested Interests, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP, MACE

President Obama promised
during his campaign for passage of the Affordable Care Act that the Act would
cause premiums "for the typical family" to fall by $2500.

He also said it would bend
the healthcare cost curve and if you like your doctor you can keep him or her.
We all remember these sound bites. The sound bites are all turning out to be
false.

Many intelligent people who
believe in Obamacare refuse to consider these facts. I can understand the
denial.

They will pay attention as
soon as it effects them.

The added required benefits mandated
in insurance coverage in the law and the way the healthcare insurance industry
is permitted to calculate its Medical Loss Ratio makes President Obama’s
calculation impossible.

President Obama has been telling
the American public a lie all the while. People are starting to understand.

The average one month premium
change from buying insurance in the non-group market in 2013 versus the
Obamacare exchanges in 2014 is not revealed in any government statistics. Two
studies were completed by private sources.

Premium comparisons between
2013 and 2014 are not available from Health and Human Services (HHS).

The 2013 premiums increased
by double digits from the 2012 premiums because of Obamacare. The traditional
media has not pressed the government to provide these comparisons.

The media continues to quote
the administration press releases of lower premium prices. The Obama administration uses CBO estimates
of premium prices calculated in 2010 for 2016 by data provided by the Obama
administration. The tradition media refuses to report reality.

A 50-state study has found
that insurance premiums will increase the first year of Obamacare in 45 of 50
states.

Premiums paid outside the
health insurance exchange will increase the same percentage or more.

No one can
say the American public has not been warned.

There is
going to be tremendous public outcry in the individual market for insurance
when the cost to individuals and the American taxpayers is realized.

October
1,2013 is open enrollment season for the individual and group insurance market.

President
Obama has exempted the group market from Obamacare until 2015.

One of the
reasons for the exemption for the group market is to try to mute the outcry by
splitting the non group insurance from the group insurance holders.

Some of the
premium increases have already been report in the traditional media.

"Individuals in most states will end up
spending more on the exchanges," policy analyst Drew Gonshorowski writes”

The Department of Health and Human Services published a similar
report. The government’s report is incomprehensible to me.

It does not compare pre Obamacare premiums of 2013 to
Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange premiums of 2014.

There
are literally no comparisons to current rates. That is, [the Department of Health
and Human Services] has chosen to dodge the question of whose rates are going
up, and how much. Instead they try to distract with a comparison to a
hypothetical number that has nothing to do with the actual experience of real
people.

—Douglas
Holtz-Eakin
President, American Action Forum[1]

The Department of Health and Human Services has
declared a 16% decrease in premium costs compared to the CBO’s 2010 estimate of
premiums for 2016.

It is important to remember the CBO’s
calculation was with faulty data provided by the administration.

“Based on a Manhattan Institute analysis of the HHS numbers,
Obamacare will increase underlying insurance rates for younger men by an
average of 97 to 99 percent, and for younger women by an average of 55 to 62
percent. Worst off is North Carolina, which will see individual-market rates
triple for women, and quadruple for
men.”

http://youtu.be/JwPr59nA1fM

The Obama
administration’s methods of deception are cunning, powerful and effective.

He always blames others and hides his ideology.

President
Obama continues to try to fool a majority of the people most of the time.

Americans will
get the point where the rubber meets the road. The public is going to
have to reach into their pockets and pay these enormous increases in premiums
or not buy healthcare insurance coverage.

Taxpaying
Americans are also going to experience massive increases in taxes above and beyond those already experienced.

I predict the
public outcry will drown out the spin of the Obama administration. The
traditional media will not be able to ignore this public outcry.

People will
finally realize the enormous government grab of power and control of Obamacare at
taxpayers’ expense.

People
can’t complete applications or secure premium prices on the health insurance
exchanges because of technical problems resulting from ancient information technology
used by the government to construct the exchanges.

All of the
consumers’ demographics must be filled out before the government provides a
premium price. There is at tricky reason for this.

This
computer “glitch” solidifies my view that President Obama wants Obamacare to
fail in order to replace it with a single party payer system that America
cannot afford.

This last
statement is counterintuitive but I believe true.

Is it wise
for consumers to hand over all their medical decision making to a government
that has this much difficulty with executing a computer program and providing
healthcare insurance premiums?

Americans
must wake up soon. They have to insist on a consumer driven healthcare system
in which they have control over their healthcare and their healthcare dollars.

Americans have
to insist on having an Ideal Medical Saving Account healthcare system.

I have described the Ideal Medical Saving Account System in great detail.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone

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If You Tell A Lie

October 20, 2016

inMedicaid, Medicare, Medicine: Healthcare System, Politicians,Healthcare and Vested Interests, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D., FACP, MACE

If you tell a lie enough times it becomes the truth. President Obama and Hillary and Bill Clinton keep telling the American public that there are 20 million new Obamacare enrollees.

Obamacare advocates believe that Obamacare provided healthcare insurance for 20 million people who did not have healthcare insurance before Obamacare.

These Obamacare advocates have little understanding of the details of this lie. They usually react negatively when I tell them the 20 million new enrollee figure is a lie.

Republicans do not pick this up and call Democrats out about this lie. Perhaps they have no understanding of what is going on.

The lie then becomes the truth.

I follow Charles Gabbe at http://acasignups.net. Charles Gabbe is pro Obamacare. He publishes daily and weekly statistics as well as news in general about Obamacare’s progress and enrollment.

His numbers come from government sources. His numbers are very different than the numbers President Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton are announcing.

The Obama administration continually manipulates the enrollment figures in order to give the impression that Obamacare has been successful.

President Obama continuously lies about the enrollment figures.

Obamacare has been a total failure because of its structure.

On December 9, 2015 ACAsignups.net published these enrollment numbers for 2016.

“ACAsignups.net publishes government release enrollment numbers weekly. These are the December 9th numbers.

Confirmed 2016 Exchange QHPs: 3,260,356 as of 12/09/15 

Estimated 2016 Exchange QHPs: 4.73M as of 12/09/15 (3.60M via HCgov)

Projected Exchange QHPs: 5.76M by 12/12/15 (4.34M via HC.Gov)

Projected #OE3 QHP Selections: 14.70M nationally (11.23M via HC.gov)

Projected #OE3 QHP Selections by State

http://acasignups.net

Maybe 9 million signed up for Obamacare last year. (2015)

What were the 12/09/14 enrollee numbers with 3 weeks to go until January 1, 2015?

Christmas to New Years consumes one week of enrollment. Holiday shopping will consume the other two weeks.

Why did the government reduce the expected enrollment to 5 million when enrollment was 9 million last year (2016)?

Does the Obama administration expect 4 million people to drop out of Obamacare because it is too expensive?

How did the Obama administration’s data given to the CBO cause the CBO to predict an enrollment of 21 million enrollees for 2016?

The 2016 Obamacare enrollment figures barely touch 10 million, not 20 million.

What is enrollment going to be when most of the major insurance companies have dropped out of the health insurance exchanges?

What is enrollment going to be when 18 of the 22 Obama administration created State Co-Ops have gone bankrupt?

President Obama and his administration have mislead Americans about the exact number of enrollees since the very beginning of the first enrollment period starting October 1, 2013. The first enrollment was delayed until November 1, 2013 and extended 6 months.

The American public has been mislead about:

The disastrous website development, reason for website crashes and cost of website development.
The exact number of enrollees the first year. (9.5 million corrected to 8 million and then re-corrected to 6.8 million)
An additional correction that resulted in another decrease of an additional 800,000 enrollees losing Obamacare insurance. The government belatedly discovered these 800,000 were ineligible for subsidies.
Decreasing the original predicted enrollees for 2015 from 13.5 million to 9.5 million.
The change in the start of enrollment from October 1, 2014 to November 15th to avoid discussion of enrollment around the time of the November 2014 elections.
Extending the 2014 enrollment 6 months.
Extending enrollment for 2015 for one to three months.
Finally, in 2015 announcing the back end of the website’s ability to send information to the IRS was still not complete.
Rehiring CGI, the same Canadian company that built the disastrous healthcare.gov, to fix the back end of the website. A company’s employee is a friend of Michelle Obama.
Discovering that 1.2 million enrollees were counted that should not have been because they got dental insurance instead of healthcare insurance bringing the number of enrollees down from a recalculated 8 million to 6.8 million enrollees for 2014.
Announcing that 11.5 million people have enrolled for 2015 (these numbers seemed shaking at the time of enrollment. It seemed to be closer to 9.5 million or less.)
Announcing that the group market Obamacare insurance enrollment is being delayed a year or two while the mandate penalty for employers was to start January 1,2015.

Along the way I got the feeling that none of the enrollment numbers could be trusted. HHS and CMS kept modifying and lowering them.

The Obama administration keeps telling American how great the enrollment is and that Obamacare is a success.

However, we are told only ten million enrollees had Obamacare insurance in 2016.

Eighty five percent of those on Obamacare are receiving subsidies so the premiums are affordable. These subsidized recipients still cannot afford the deductibles.

The remaining 15% enrollees have a pre-existing illness. They cannot find private insurance to buy.

What about the 330 million people who might have subpar healthcare insurance? How many employers might discontinue employee insurance?

After five years with all the new Obamacare taxes, I would not call Obamacare a successful healthcare reform program.

All of these enrollees are in the individual insurance market. These numbers do not include the group insurance market.

14 million people in the individual market lost their healthcare insurance pre Obamacare.

10 million gained insurance on the healthcare insurance exchanges in 2016. There is a net decrease of 4 million individuals that is not discussed by the Obama administration or the traditional mass media.

Many of the state healthcare insurance exchanges have failed.

Eighteen of the 22 state insurance co-ops have failed so far.

An unknown number of enrollees in 2014 did not re-enroll in 2015 because of the loss of the subsidy.

Other enrollees did not sign up again because they could not afford the high deductible.

At the end of 2015 enrollment the Obama administration announced that 11.5 million people were enrolled.

On March 16, 2015 the administration said about 16.4 million people have gained health insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act became law nearly five years ago.

Please notice the tricky wording. The Obama administration is counting children under 26 that now can be included in their parents’ group insurance plans and the additional Medicaid recipients added by some states.

The count is not only the people who enrolled in Obamacare through the healthcare insurance exchanges.

The discussion should be about the success of the healthcare insurance exchanges not the increase in Medicaid coverage.

The 2014 enrollment figures as of March 18, 2015 were also inflated. It is noteworthy than the Medicaid/CHIP estimate was 14.1 M. It is down to 10 million in 2016.

Confirmed Exchange QHPs: 11,699,473 as of 3/18/15

Estimated: 11.95M (9.06M via HCgov) as of 3/18/15

Estimated ACA Policy Enrollment: 33.1M (10.46M Exchange QHPs, 8.20M OFF-Exchange QHPs, 330K SHOP, 14.1M Medicaid/CHIP)

http://acasignups.net

Written into the law is that only state healthcare exchanges can provide subsidies not the federal health exchanges.

President Obama has not asked congress to rewrite the law’s provision.

This was another example of executive overreach of power by President Obama.

It looks as if President Obama cannot help himself from trying to manipulate the American public.

Republicans have not pointed out all this manipulation to the voting public.

I believe the public has figured out the manipulation.

Hillary Clinton has promised she will expand Obamacare. Why expand a failed program?

Her unspoken goal is to institute a single party payer system. A single party payer system will also be unsustainable.

There is a better way!

It is a consumer driven healthcare system with my ideal medical saving account.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.

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Healthcare Policy in The Post Truth Era

January 4, 2020

inUncategorized

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Healthcare Policy in The Post Truth Era

Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP, MACE

The government has been deficient in trying to do anything to Repair the Healthcare System.

Unfortunately, John McCain’s vote blocked the repeal of Obamacare which froze any progress. His reason was feeble and politically naïve.

John McCain wanted congress to work together and have bipartisan agreement on healthcare reform. The entire majority of the present House of Representatives has no desire to be bipartisan or help President Trump create or pass any bipartisan legislation.

Democrats in the house only want to impeach the president. They have no time for positive legislation to repair the healthcare system.

I believe the Trump administration has the right idea.

President Trump and his administration have decided to make structural changes to the healthcare system by executive order until it can make big legislative changes. Their hope is they win a more cooperative Congress in 2020.

We are living in a Post-Truth era.

“Post-truthpolitics(also called post-factual politics^[1]and post-reality politics)^[2]is a political culturein which debate is framed largely by appeals to emotion disconnected from the details of policy, and by the repeated assertion of talking pointsto which factual rebuttals are ignored.

Post-truthdiffers from traditional contesting and falsifyingof facts by relegating facts and expert opinions to be of secondary importance relative to appeal to emotion. While this has been described as a contemporary problem, some observers have described it as a long-standing part of political life that was less notable before the advent of the Internetand related social changes.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-truth_politics

The media is the message. Donald Trump threatens the Democratic Party, the bureaucracy and the traditional mainstream media. He also threatens some of the Republicans.

He is a crude speaking person from Queens, New York. He has been called a brawler by some. He says he never starts a fight. He fights back. Many say he fights back in an unappealing way.

He says his goal is to drain the swamp. We have all gotten a glimpse of the inefficient and at times corrupt bureaucracy within our government. We can see the swamp’s depth only because of the Internet and the availability of alternate news opinions.

President Trump is working hard to streamline and increase the efficiency of the ever-expanding bureaucracy. He is a direct threat to their well-being. This is their justification for hating him.

The traditional mainstream media has promoted the Democrats’ agenda. They have helped obstruct President Trump’s agenda. The media has ignored or criticized the continual successes of President Trump.

It has either published disinformation or misinformation, ignored critical thinking on issues, or simply published non-truths.

President Trump has had no choice. Obamacare remained the law. It has been expensive and unsuccessful. It is impossible to know its yearly cost to the federal government. It is self-imploding and will disappear shortly.

Obamacare has just completed its open enrollment period for 2020. The enrollment period is supposed to end on December 15^th. The Obama administration extended it to March 31 during some enrollment years. The Trump administration has extended the 2020 open enrollment period until December 31, 2019 this year.

85% of people who enrolled in Obamacare have a preexisting illness. The Obama administration has subsidized most of the premiums. It did not subsidize the deductibles. Obamacare participants still could not afford to pay the deductible. In essence, participants have no healthcare insurance because they could not afford to use it.

Open enrollment as of December 7, 2019, was awful.

http://acasignups.net/blogs/charles-gaba

There are only 6,134,477 who have enrolled in 2020 compared to 16.1 million enrollees in 2014. Medicaid was expanded by 9.3 million in 2014. With the Medicaid expansion, a total of 25 million people received insurance in 2014.

Medicaid is a single party payor. It is inefficient. It has a problem getting physicians to participate because reimbursement does not cover most physician’s overhead.

President Obama decided to have the federal government pay over 90% of the state-run Medicaid programs for a few years. The states, which signed up for the Medicaid expansion, did not have an increase in costs.

When states have to start paying more for the Medicaid expansion, they will have to raise taxes because by law they cannot have a budget deficit. At the moment most of those states have unauthorized budget deficits. Those deficits will become worse when they have to fund expanded Medicaid.

The mainstream media and Democratic congress continually publish the figure that Obamacare has decreased the uninsured by 20 million. However, eleven million were that result of the expanded Medicaid program.

2014

The numbers do not match. The government graphs are complex and confusing. However, they are very informative. The graphs tend to confuse us with estimates and actual enrollees.

In 2016 the numbers decreased to 9.3 million with open enrollment extended to February 1, 2016

2016

Medicaid enrollment increased in 2016 to 15.3 million. The Medicaid increase is included in the total number of previously uninsured, Obamacare provided healthcare insurance. Obamacare’s increase in previously uninsured is, in fact, an expansion of Medicaid. The mainstream media use the number 20 million newly insured patients which is a misleading justification for fixing Obamacare. Some of Medicaid’s increase enrollment could represent the illegal immigrants who are now entitled to healthcare coverage.

The net Medicaid increase since March 2010 in 2016 was 16.3 million. It looks like Obamacare’s goal was to increase Medicaid. The next step is to have “Medicaid/Medicare for All.”

2018 remained the same as in 2016, with many more dropouts because people realized Obamacare’s unaffordability. Since it was unaffordable, they realized they could not afford care event thought they paid their premium. Therefore, they dropped out and stopped paying their premiums.

2020 has been the expected disaster. Consumers needed relief from the Obamacare disaster. Obamacare has caused a further increase in dysfunction in an already dysfunctional healthcare system for people insured by Medicare, Medicaid and Private Healthcare insurance.

Everyone is dissatisfied.

Only 6.1 million consumers have enrolled in Obamacare for 2020.

President Trump is hoping that after the 2020 election, he will have a friendlier Congress. Obamacare will be repealed. Congress will want to do something to help him repair the healthcare system. Meanwhile, he can only do some structural changes to lead us on the path toward an affordable healthcare system.

I predicted Obamacare would eventually fail when it was passed in 2010. Obamacare did not align stakeholders’ incentives!

Obamacare was destined to become unaffordable to consumers, the states and the federal government.

Bernie Sanders’ and Elizabeth Warren’s “Medicare for All” will suffer the same fate as Obamacare.

Most of all the taxpayers in the nation will suffer the most.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.  

Copywrite 2006-2020

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Associations Are Growing

February 20, 2019

inConsumer Driven Health Care, Medicine: Healthcare System

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Stanley Feld M.D. FACP, MACE

Any initiative President Trump and his administration presents to the public is criticized as junk as soon as it is presented. It is criticized without any evidence for the criticism because it does not fit into the Democrat’s narrative of “Medicare for All.”

When the Trump administration rolled out the plan to once again let associations sell healthcare insurance plans to its individual and small businesses Democrats charged that these plans would be worthless.

The mainstream media did not publicize the Trump administration’s initiative. The fact that Obamacare has resulted in higher premiums and deductibles for small businesses and individuals has been downplayed by the mainstream media. In fact, we occasionally see articles declaring that the people like Obamacare. Only twelve million people are insured by Obamacare.

It is not true that people like Obamacare. The fact is premiums and deductible are not affordable for many on Obamacare despite the fact that 85% of the enrollees receive federal government subsidies

The fact is that individuals without healthcare insurance and who do not qualify for Medicaid need insurance. They are stuck buying Obamacare insurance because they do not have any other option. Many have had to go uninsured because they could not afford premiums and deductibles. Many have gotten jobs in our excellent economy where the large employers pay for group healthcare insurance.

The associations’ plans were proposed to provide a less expensive alternative to Obamacare by allowing workers and small businesses to pool together to buy healthcare insurance through the association.

An association, like big corporations, has the ability to negotiate with healthcare insurance companies to lower premium prices and deductible. The tax treatment is also favorable.

The association initiative started in January 2019. Early evidence suggests that the initiative is working out — at least for now.

“The administration’s alternatives, known as “association health plans,” have been covering the same benefits that Obamacare plans do, even though they are not obligated to, according to a new analysis by the industry publication Modern Healthcare and another by AssociationHealthPlans.com.”

Just like Obamacare plans, the associations’ plans are paying for prevention, visits the doctor’s office and the hospital, emergency medicine, prescription drugs, maternity care, and mental healthcare.

The plans are also covering people with pre-existing conditions, such as cancer or diabetes.

“In fact, the plans are required to cover all of the above. This is an aspect of their coverage that was not well publicized by the mainstream media, according to Kev Coleman, president of AssociationHealthPlans.com. “That’s something that was lost in the mix.”

The requirement is part of Obamacare’s regulations. Since Obamacare has not yet been repealed by Congress the rules will remain.

“Officials in the Department of Labor announced new rules for the plans in June, with some of the plans allowed for purchase beginning in September. Since then, at least 28 plans have launched in 13 states, according to Coleman’s analysis.”

Self-employed consultants working out of their homes, plumbers, and massage therapist are joining associations to have the negotiating power of large numbers of people seeking healthcare insurance.

Chambers of commerce and small cities have been forming state trade associations and their employees are joining these rapidly forming associations and enrolling in their insurance plans.

The Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation has 59,000 farmers and ranchers in their association. The associations are similar to what Jeff Bezo,Jamie Diamond and Warren Buffett are planning to do for their 700,000 employees. They plan on selling the insurance across state lines which will reduce the price even further than the 33% reduction the associations are anticipating offering.

The Obama administration had limited the formation of associations selling healthcare insurance. Associations were selling their own plans. They were inexperienced administrating them. Some associations went bankrupt. Large healthcare insurance companies have strict criteria and oversite. Self-run associations are going to take longer than.

Associations are being formed. Outside health insurers have run a few association plans since September 2018. Associations were only allowed to begin running their own plans beginning in January 2019.

Critics complain that the healthcare insurance industry is providing teaser rates to associations now. The critics claim the healthcare insurance companies will eventually raise the premiums. It is a possibility. However, with the increase contributions allowed for Medical Savings Accounts and Health Savings Accounts, association members will have a financial incentive to become a prosumer. Consumers would have incentive to become responsible for their health and healthcare dollars.

“A more recent study by the Congressional Budget Office projected that 5 million would be enrolled in the plans each year, 1 million of whom would otherwise have been uninsured. The analysis did not assess how many people on Obamacare would become uninsured.”

The Trump administration plan is truly a disruptive plan to the healthcare industry and government healthcare establishment. The Democrats are terrified because it might work much better than Obamacare and result in a total rejection of “Medicare for All.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/uninsured-rate-rises-during-trumps-first-two-years-in-office

“It’s not clear from the Gallup poll whether those who are now uninsured used to have an Obamacare plan or had one through an employer or government program. Other data, from the Department of Health and Human Services, show that the number of people in Obamacare plans has dropped only slightly since Obama left office.”

The problem is that enrollment in Obamacare has not risen while the uninsured has.

The number of people on Medicaid has risen dramatically due to some states accepting Medicaid expansion. The federal government is due to stop paying over 90% of the bill for Medicaid and transfer the burden of payment to those states. Most of those state have large budget deficits that are only going to become larger.

“The highest increases in the uninsured rate were among women, people living in households with annual incomes of less than $48,000 a year, and adults under the age of 35. The young adults had an uninsured rate of more than 21 percent, a 4.8 percentage point increase from two years earlier. Among women, the uninsured rate increased from 8.9 percent in 2016 to 12.8 percent by the end of 2018.”

People cannot afford Obamacare premiums or deductibles. Associations might provide more affordable options. People working for large organizations presently have healthcare coverage.

Consumers understand how inefficient government-run programs have been. It is appropriate to let the free market give it a try. The formation of associations with appropriate regulations is certainly a free market step as opposed to the Democrats’ Obamacare that has failed. It is clear that government control of medical care is financially unsustainable.

We will see how associations and consumers responsible for healthcare dollars works out.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.  

Copywrite 2006-2019

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The Reason Congress Does Not Work

August 10, 2018

inPoliticians,Healthcare and Vested Interests, Stakeholder Abuse of the Healthcare System, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld MD,FACP, MACE

I have wondered why either house of congress has not done anything about healthcare reform in the past 6 months.

The reason is that both the Democrat and Republican leadership in both houses of congress do not want to do anything about Repairing the Healthcare System.

On July 2, 2018 CMS released a report on the performance of the health insurance exchanges and the individual Obamacare health insurance markets.

“Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Releases Reports on the Performance of the Exchanges and Individual Health Insurance Market.

Reports show individual market erosion and increasing taxpayer liability.”

The CMS conclusions for 2017 were obvious in 2016. Obamacare is on a downward spiral.

In 2017 87% of enrollees were subsidized as opposed to 83% in 2016.

There was an alarming 20% drop nationwide in enrollees in Obamacare’s individual healthcare market without federal premium subsidies.

223,000 subsidized enrollees dropped their subsidized insurance.

These Obamacare enrollees dropped their insurance because even with subsidies their premiums became too expensive. Their average monthly premiums of the subsided and unsubsidized groups spiked by 21%.

Unsubsidized Obamacare enrollment dropped an average of 33% nationally. It dropped an astonishing 73% in Arizona. It is a wonder that neither Arizona senator wants to do anything about Repairing the Healthcare System. It is also a wonder that Arizona citizens continue to support these senators.

Obamacare is dead!

The Democrats are naturally blaming its death on President Trump. President Trump does not want to pour more money into this failed concept while forcing a greater payment liability on taxpaying Americans. He wants congress to do something to repair the healthcare system.

President Obama’s plan all along was for Obamacare to fail and be replaced by a single party payer system.

I have written about 20 articles on why a single party payer system is unsustainable and will fail.

http://stanfeld.com/?s=single+party+payer

I am unable to insert links and videos properly. Please insert the links for both into your browser. It is important to understand how the rookie representative view how the government works.

The British National Health Services System is a failure. Single party payer systems close to home are a failure.

For example The VA Health System is a failure. Medicaid is an unsustainable failure. It is unsustainable while offering inefficient care.

http://stanfeld.com/?s=Medicaid+failure

Medicare is a failure because it is unsustainable by the government. Seniors like it because they can get care that they could not afford otherwise.

However, seniors are getting wise. Medicare is becoming unaffordable to seniors. The government construction of Medicare premiums for Part B, Part D and Part F are costing seniors somewhere north of $16,000 a year in post tax dollars.

Medicare used to pay 80% of its approved fee. The approved fee is about 50% of the physicians’ fees. In 2018 Medicare is only paying around 50% of its approved fee. Seniors have to pay the difference.

This will drive seniors out of the Medicare marketplace.

There is a better way. I have gone into excruciating detail describing the better way.

http://stanfeld.com/?s=My+Ideal+Medical+Savings+Account

Newt Gingrich, when he was house leader, said my idea was a BIG IDEA. However nothing ever came of the big idea. The “big idea” empowers the people not the government.

“Unlike many other politicians who have promised to take on the establishment and “drain the swamp,” Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) 2012 is actually trying to do just that, and is taking some serious flak for his exposure of the Deep State and its agents on Capitol Hill.”

https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/29426-in-the-swamp-fearless-reps-expose-the-corruption-on-capitol-hill?src=ilaw

If you click on the newamerican link above you will have all the videos in one article.

In a video series entitled The Swamp, Massie, along with Representatives Dave Brat and Tom Garrett of Virginia, Ken Buck of Colorado, Rod Blum of Iowa, and Ted Yoho of Florida, are showing people “what happens behind the scenes in Congress.”

To date, there are four episodes, each running about 10 minutes.

Besides pulling back the curtain to reveal the names and tactics of those who really pull the legislative levers in Congress, The Swamp videos make it very obvious that, although there are 435 members of the House of Representatives, the key decisions are made by a handful of very powerful leaders bent on controlling the country and that the betrayal is bipartisan.

The first video introduces these non establishment representatives’ chief complaint.

https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1794302460864573/

An average of 4,500,000 people have viewed these videos.

“Representative Blum responded, “Most all the decisions around here are made by a few people at the very top, without the input of any other congressional members or U.S. senators. That’s not good representative government, wouldn’t you say?”

“I think both parties are engaged in a quiet deal that we will support our base, and if it leads to bankruptcy, okay, and you will support your base, and if it leads to bankruptcy, okay,” Representative Buck says in Episode 1.

In Episode 2, the perception of a two-party system where the two parties oppose each other and want to achieve different ends is shattered as leaders of Democrats work with their Republican counterparts to shove a bloated, unconstitutional omnibus spending bill through the House without giving members time to read the text of the measure.

https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1807501746211311/

“One of the most shocking revelations comes in Episode 3, when Rep. Massie details how the party forces members to pay “rent” for their committee assignments and chairmanships. If a congressman wants to sit on a committee, he is expected to raise a certain amount of money for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the body that works to elect House Republicans. There is an identical system on the Democrat side. In an interview, Rep. Buck told me this system has been in place for Republicans since the days of Newt Gingrich, and even longer for Democrats.”

https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1816800768614742/

Episode 4 of The Swamp was released just a few days ago and covers the consequences faced by those lawmakers brave enough to buck the system and call out the conspirators.

https://www.facebook.com/TheSwamp/videos/1831877993773686/

There you have it. This is the complex definition of The Swamp.

The structure has been created whereby our representatives and senators do not represent the will of the people.

Congress represents the will of the vested interests. Anyone that understands this has to play ball or move out.

It will be very difficult for America to get a sensible healthcare reform bill for the benefit of the American people when this pyramid of power exists.

It looks like legislation is driven by money, not the will of the people. These four videos are essential to understanding the process. They must be watched.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.  

Copywrite 2006-2018

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Trump Is Not the Real Target – You Are

May 31, 2017

inMedicine: Healthcare System, Stakeholder Mistrust

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACP

Many of my readers have been upset by the slowness and the lack of progress from the Republican senate in repealing and replacing Obamacare.

The country is approaching enrollment time for 2018. Insurance companies need to submit available healthcare plans to the health insurance exchanges soon.

Maybe there will be no healthcare plans available for people in the individual healthcare market with pre-existing illness. This will signify total collapse of Obamacare.

Maybe the Republicans are hanging around waiting for the public to realize that there will be insufficient healthcare plans submitted.

Then the Republicans could blame the Democrats for Obamacare’s failure.

Obamacare has failed for all the reasons I have already written about. There is no reason to debate if it has failed. There is also no reason to debate that President Obama’s vision for Obamacare failed.

President Obama and the Democrats are responsible for its failure. Obamacare was an ill conceived healthcare plan that could not be sustainable.

There are plenty of reasons to support the people who might lose insurance. Those people do not include the 12 million new enrollees in Medicaid.

President Trump is not going to touch their insurance.

The 9 million people enrolled with pre-existing illnesses that have signed up for Obamacare on the individual market must be covered with affordable insurance in some way.

There are many more people in this category who do not have insurance under Obamacare because it is unaffordable.

Within the House Republican plan there are provisions for these people.

It is clear that the liberal mainstream media is on the Democrats’ side.

It’s goal is to do everything it can to obstruct President Trump’s agenda and what he promised the American people.

President Trump won the election on his agenda, not on his personality.

It is clear that the mainstream media is against President Trump. A recent study showed that over 80% of articles written in our daily newspapers are negative articles about the Trump administration.

Many of the 20% positive articles have a negative subtext. Many of these negative articles have no basis in fact and have been proven to be untrue.

President Trump uses the words “fake news” because it angers the press and excites his base.

The Democrats are trying to make as many issues as possible treasonous without any basis for the use of the word treason.

In fact they roll out Maxine Waters every day saying President Trump should be impeached without her presenting a single piece of evidence for impeachment.

It should be clear that is a Saul Alinsky tactic. I have not heard one conservative or Republican accuse the Democrats of using Alinsky tactics.

President Obama did many things that were unconstitutional. He was never called out for them with congressional investigation. When the issues were investigated they were all given a pass. I can think of the IRS and Lois Lerner investigation, the attorney general issue, the CIA issue, and most of all the Hilliary Clinton hearing in which she said nothing for nine hours. The press, the congress and the President let her get away with it without at least an indictment.

James Comey of the FBI said she was careless and unindictable.

The other day I received the following article from a reader declaring the target of these attacks is not President Trump.

The target is the voters who want constructive legislation in Washington for the people. The country cannot survive with the corruption and unconstitutional behavior much longer.

Tim Daughtry is a conservative speaker and co-author of Waking the Sleeping Giant: How Mainstream Americans Can Beat Liberals at Their Own Game wrote a beautiful article explaining what is going on.

I have never thought of the establishment game in these terms. I have reprinted Mr. Daughtry’s entire article so that all of us will take a moment “to reexamine out premises” as Ayn Ryan suggested 70 years ago in Atlas Shrugged.

Trump Is Not the Real Target; You Are

Tim Daughtry

“As we watch the daily barrage of accusations and innuendo directed against President Trump by the far left, the liberal media, and even some in his own party, those of us who voted to put him in the Oval Office need to remember one crucial point: President Trump is not the real target. You are.

Even considering his outsized persona and the stunning phenomenon of an outsider who has never held political office winning the presidency against one of the most powerful political machines in American history, the new movement that elected Donald Trump has never been about Trump. In the 2016 election, the “forgotten men and women of America” were hell-bent to send a message to the powerful elites of both parties.

The message was that the Washington elites are serving themselves and their own agenda and ignoring the rest of the nation. The message was that Washington has become a swamp of corruption and self-serving collusion among powerful interests and that Main Street America is ready to see that swamp drained.

Donald Trump was our messenger.

Because his candidacy was not about Trump the man but Trump the messenger, he was able to withstand the smears and assaults of the Clinton Machine that would have sunk any other candidate. They siphoned all the way to the bottom of their slime barrel, and still the message prevailed.

That message was simple and grounded in common sense. No country can survive unless it has control over its borders. People coming into American should be vetted to make sure that they pose no danger to us. After eight years of stifling taxes and regulations, we should once again make America a healthy place in which to do business, make products, and create jobs. Political correctness may seem silly and laughable, but in reality it poses a serious threat to free expression and open exchange of ideas. If it’s terrorism, call it that. Say what is obvious to our common sense even if it offends the delicate sensibilities of the elite.

Now the denizens of the Washington swamp are sending a message back to the forgotten men and women who voted for Trump and his reforms: “Forget you.”

The leftists who worked to radically transform the nation under Barack Obama are telling us that they hold the reins of power and that we the people don’t run anything. They are telling us that their agenda will prevail regardless of how we vote or what we want. They are telling us that they can subvert, attack, and destroy any messenger that we send into their territory. And feckless leaders in the GOP seem, at best, more afraid of displeasing the Democrats than betraying their own voters, and, at worst, in cozy collusion with the opposition.

What is at stake in the barrage of innuendo, twisted news, and “investigations” is not just the future of the Trump presidency, but the future of the very idea that governmental power rests ultimately on the consent of the governed.

Of course there is much at stake in the actual policy questions facing the country. But underneath the debates about border security, court appointees, tax and regulatory policy, and so on lies a deeper question that is at the very heart of our system of government: Can the American people still change the direction of the country if we believe that the country is headed in the wrong direction? Or will the powerful and self-serving elites impose their agenda even when we don’t consent to it?

When the voters put leftists in power, as they did with the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the country moves left. But when voters try to change course, as we did in the elections of 2010 and 2014, the country still careened towards open borders, government control of healthcare, rule by rogue judges, and lawless license for those in the power elite.

And so we went outside the traditional path and elected Donald Trump in 2016. The liberal news anchors had barely dried their tears after Election Day when the left began to cloud the real meaning of Trump’s election by pushing the bizarre claim that the Russians had somehow hacked the election.

In their gaslighting version of reality, you didn’t really vote to drain the swamp. You didn’t really vote to secure our borders. You didn’t vote to repeal and replace Obamacare and put doctors and patients back in charge instead of Washington bureaucrats. You didn’t vote to restore rule of law and common sense to Washington. The Russians somehow threw the election to Trump. You can go back home now and let the experts run things.

It’s swamp gas. Don’t breathe it.

There is plenty in Washington that merits investigation, from foreign influence through the Clinton Foundation to Obama’s use of intelligence data for political purposes. Congress has the power to do just that, but we need to give them the will.

Let’s remind our representatives that they might forget us, but we won’t forget them.”

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” is, mine and mine alone.

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Dear President-elect Trump Part 3

December 1, 2016

inConsumer Driven Health Care, Health Savings Accounts vs Medical Savings Accounts, Medicine: Healthcare System

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Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP, MACE

The following is Part 3 of my review of your healthcare reform platform. You have a viable alternative to Obamacare. Your alternative needs some vital additions.

In my last blog I omitted the link proving that only 1 million people signed up for Obamacare health insurance exchanges.

I apologize for the oversight. Today enrollment is only 2.3 million. I also noticed that the enrollment date was extended to January 30 from December 31 without fanfare. The site I omitted that follows daily enrollment is acasignups.net.

Obamacare is still a long way from the 20 million claimed and the actual 10 million enrolled for 12 months.

The Obama “experts” still believe that Obamacare is viable. They refuse to believe it has been a healthcare disaster as well as a disaster for America’s economy.

Your next proposal is;

Allow individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Contributions into HSAs should be tax-free and should be allowed to accumulate.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) should be changed to Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) to provide better financial incentives for people who choose this form of insurance. The Medical Savings Accounts can easily be customized so that consumers can choose the level of insurance they desire.

The cost of first dollar reinsurance for coverage after the deductible is met plus the MSA contribution is much cheaper than the first dollar coverage Medicaid coverage. The insurance vendor will still make a sizable profit by providing first dollar coverage reinsurance.

The contribution to the MSA should be flexible to provide an adequate amount of money to be put into the savings accounts to provide financial incentivizes to consumers to maintain their health.

Obesity is a huge problem to health maintenance of health. Obesity can be effectively cured behavioral change of consumers.

The incidence of chronic diseases in obese people is five times that of normal weight people. Financial incentives must be provided. The is also the area that social engineering might be helpful.

Obese children are becoming diabetic and hypertensive at a young age. This must be prevented because of the potential explosive cost effect of complications of both diabetes and hypertension on individuals. The overall costs to patients, Medicaid and society will be devastating.

Medicaid must be converted to a system where the recipients are responsible for their health with financial incentives. Only then Medicaid patients will not be treated as a commodity. Service will improve. .

Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals.

Price transparency is an essential provision for individuals, businesses and groups in order to produce smart consumers of healthcare.

It is also necessary to require insurance companies to provide verifiable price transparency for their administrative costs and their direct patient care costs.

Consumers must be empowered to be responsible and shop for the best healthcare service value. They must look for the best prices for procedures, exams or any other medical related procedure.

The only way to decrease the cost of healthcare services is to produce smart and motivated consumers of healthcare.

The Healthcare System must be converted to a Consumer Driven Healthcare System.

Social networking should be used as the backbone for the establishment of consumer empowerment.

The success of Angie’s list, Trip Advisor and Open Table are a result of social networking.

All medical care is local. Local communities have their individual social networks that empower people in their neighborhood to know which vendors provide the best value in their community.

Healthcare consumers can use this simple procedure to decrease the cost of healthcare and medical care.

This could also be a place where government can lead the way in establishing accurate educational resources.

Block-grant Medicaid to the states.

These block grants can be used by the states to fund MSAs without a threat of increasing state budget deficits or giving up states’ rights to the federal government.

Block grants for social networking should be used to provide incentives to help individual Medicaid patients seek out and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse of some of its local providers.

It would eliminate expensive big data collections that often times are inaccurate for policy making by central federal control.

Remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug providers that offer safe, reliable and cheaper products.

Federal and state governments should help their citizens choose safe, reliable and cheaper products for the treatment of their diseases.

This would help with compliance and adherence to recommended treatment and also decrease the cost of care.

It would provide consumers with information to take responsibility for their own health and healthcare dollars.

Encourage Congress to step away from the special interests and do what is right for America.

One example is allowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas. It will stimulate competition for consumer dollars in the U.S. and lower the cost of brand and generic drugs sold here. Drug prices are artificially high in the U.S.

This is only one example of many ways to decrease the cost of drugs in this country.

You have made many proposals to make a lot of important changes to the healthcare system.

Some are good proposals. Some are not very well thought out by your advisors.

You left out Tort Reform, which is one of the most important proposals. Effective Tort Reform will result in a precipitous decrease in the cost of medical care.

It is absurd to let Obamacare “experts” like Ezekiel Emanuel and Jonathan Gruber heckle your “non viable” healthcare reform plan.

However, you are missing the other important elements in reforming the healthcare system. Those elements are the elements of the use of consumer power, consumer initiatives, and consumer incentives.

By utilizing these elements you will begin to “Drain the Healthcare Swamp.”

Your healthcare changes must include a consumer driven system with an ideal medical saving account. Otherwise, the healthcare system will remain an unmanageable, expensive and abused mess.

You have admitted these proposals are simply a start. You can easily fall into the trap of listening to academicians who have never practiced medicine in a private setting. You need people who understand patients’ needs.

Obamacare has been a disaster that is unsustainable. It is increasing the cost of care week by week, while rationing care and decreasing access to care.

You must repeal and replace Obamacare. No one wants it. You have outlined a viable proposal even if the progressives don’t like it.

It is a good start.

The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.