01 Nov 2013 The Next Moves in the ObamaCare Deception, by Elaina F. George, MD
Americans are being led down the wrong path.
There has been, and continues to be, a concerted effort on the part of liberal politicians — who are encouraged by the media — to convince the American people that their health care system is the worst in the industrialized world, that doctors are to blame for high costs and that someone taking responsibility for their own health insurance is both selfish and somehow hurts the less fortunate. People are also supposed to believe opposition to government intervention that is designed to pick winners and losers implies they hate the poor or are racist and/or sexist.
The truth is much simpler.
Under the guise of fairness, our government is essentially implementing an agenda of central planning. Examples include the concerted globalization of our banking system through TARP, the subjugation of much of our military’s autonomy to the United Nations, the centralization of our public education system — first with the No Child Left Behind program and now with the Common Core Curriculum.
It has taken over 50 years, starting with adoption of Medicare (i.e., socialized medicine for seniors), notwithstanding the failure of HillaryCare, for government to take over American health care.
While so many are distracted by the failure of the ObamaCare web site, the first phase of ObamaCare has already been successfully underway without much notice or outrage.
ObamaCare has successfully begun to unravel the health care system as we know it. Since the law passed:
Doctors have been closing independent private practices to become employees of hospitals, joining large groups or leaving medicine completely — exacerbating the existing doctor shortage.
Community hospitals have closed. Hospitals have grown into large systems that control the marketplace. These systems essentially control access to care by buying out or otherwise squeezing out competition such as independent surgery centers.
Independent pharmacies have succumbed to the big chains that have systematically formed alliances with the medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies. With their preferred status, they have successfully kept prices high. They have also branched out into primary care clinics that cater to people with chronic diseases. This competes with better-trained primary care physicians and urgent care facilities staffed by board-certified ER physicians.
There has been an expansion of the number and scope of practice for health care extenders such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants. This leads to frontline health care being driven by less experienced practitioners.
Instead of concentrating on increasing the number of American medical students, there has been an increase in the outsourcing of medicine to foreign-trained physicians to provide care in the hospital setting.
The second phase is now coming into focus.
It’s not an accident that people are being thrown off their existing insurance. The perfect storm was created to achieve this goal: The out-of-pocket caps on cost for the individual were delayed; there is a 25 percent surcharge on so-called Cadillac health plans; and policies protected by the grandfather clause were never meant to stand up to the regulations and compliance written into the law.
The fact that it will be cheaper for an employer to now drop coverage and pay the fine should provide ample proof that the Cloward-Piven strategy is in play. Named after the radical sociologists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, this is the idea of overwhelming the system to break it in order to rebuild it. The end result, however, is not Medicare for all — but actually a single-payer system set up as Medicaid for all. Once the patients are in this system, is there any doubt doctors will be next?
People should pay attention to the trial balloon recently sent up by Kathleen Murphy, a candidate for a state-level delegate in Virginia, who allegedly suggested doctors should be legally forced to take Medicare and Medicaid money.
The goal is collectivism, which allows the government to be the arbiter of what constitutes what is best for everyone, except the elite and their cronies. That is the ObamaCare endgame.
For a physician, not only will this mean the illegal restriction of trade, it will also mean the end of The Hippocratic Oath and the death of the doctor-patient relationship.
# # #
Dr. Elaina George, a member of the national advisory council of the Project 21 black leadership network, is a board-certified otolaryngologist and host of a weekly talk radio show, “Medicine On Call,” that explores health issues and the politics of medicine. Comments may be sent to [email protected].
Published by the National Center for Public Policy Research. Reprints permitted provided source is credited. New Visions Commentaries reflect the views of their author, and not necessarily those of Project 21, other Project 21 members, or the National Center for Public Policy Research, its board or staff.