Obamacare: Doing Less with Less

With up to thirty million newly insured under the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) couple with programs to increase access, delivery of health care services will face increased demand.  Most of have read about the impending physician shortage - which many industry professional belief will lead to a two-tiered system of medical delivery.  Medicare patients how can afford it will opt for "concierge services" from their primary physician.  For a fee of $1,500 to $2,000 per year, these patients will gain same-day or next day services in addition to personal consultation by phone and online.  Of course, not everyone can or will opt for concierge service, leaving the remainder of patients to find medical care elsewhere.  This will place huge demands on the remaining Medicare providers - many of whom will stop accepting Medicare patients or, as some fear, stop practicing entirely.

As if that weren't bad enough, Obamacare has already triggered layoffs at hospitals around the country.  Faced with $800 to $900 billion in Medicare cuts over the next ten years, hospitals have already begun to tighten their belts.  Consider the following:

• Louisiana State University has announced it will layoff 1,500 positions at its seven hospitals to trim $150 billion from its operating budget.
• Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina announced it will reduce its workforce by 950 by June of next year.
• Orlando Health System is cutting 400 jobs immediately.

These are just the beginning. In 2013 alone, hospitals are expected to shed 93,000 jobs - all due to Obamacare.  The jobs being cut include all manner of positions, with nursing and other professional staff hit the hardest.

These cuts are already placing strains on medical providers and patients throughout the country.  It will get worse.  Expect long wait times to see a doctor and even longer lines for specialists and in-hospital procedures.  And, in order to control costs, you can expect procedures to be evaluated on a cost-effectiveness basis of which your age, general health and lifestyle will be factored in.  If you're too old, smoke and have (yes) pre-existing conditions, you may not get that operation or expensive new drug.    

It's called rationing - not the rationing of supply and demand as a natural balancing mechanism of a free market, but rationing determined by centralized, anonymous bureaucrats in Washington.

As the bumper sticker says, If you think healthcare is expensive now, just wait until it's free!