Medicare is failing. The recent Medicare Trustees report warns Congress that the hospitalization part of the “Medicare Trust Fund” (which exists only on paper) will be depleted in 2026. In seven short years, there will no longer be any surplus funds allotted to Medicare Part A (hospitalization), and payroll taxes will be insufficient to cover the full cost of care.
It is basic economics that since a single payer system of health care has zero attached costs at the point of service, the system is overrun with demand for care. Since no government on earth can finance infinite demand for anything, the inevitable occurs and the government must ration care. In Canada, rationing is done in a covert manner by limiting medical resources.
Once upon a time, nothing in the exam room was more important than the patient. Using years of training and experience, your doctor would listen carefully as you shared the reasons why you were there. But today, the exam room has a distracting intruder. Your doctor’s eyes and attention are too often focused on a computer screen — the government-mandated electronic health record (EHR).
The 21st Century Cures Act was hailed as the biggest health-care reform since ObamaCare. It’s easy to see why: The law, which passed both houses of Congress by unanimous consent last December, increased the budget of the National Institutes of Health, designated nearly $2 billion for cancer research, and set aside $500 million in 2017 alone to address the opioid crisis.
Republicans are running out of time. The U.S. Senate must act soon to repeal every word of Obamacare. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) told The Hill, “We could repeal all of Obamacare … I just don’t buy the fact that we can’t do that.” I agree.
Republicans should take a lesson from Democrats. During President Obama’s battle to enact Obamacare, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, famously said, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. What I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you could not do before.”
On March 23, we face the seventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, the law that made health insurance unaffordable and medical care less accessible. Republicans on the campaign trail promised to repeal the law, and Americans are counting on them to stick to their promise.
On Wednesday, Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee staged a protest against GOP Congressman Tom Price’s nomination as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Rather than act in a respectable manner befitting their responsibilities as public servants, Democrats boycotted the vote. Twelve chairs sat empty.
the DAIILY CALLER: Opinion
Bruce Japsen, Forbes reporter, quotes CCHF President Twila Brase in article title "From the Right, Critics Hit Paul Ryan's Obamacare Repeal Plan." He writes, "Opposition is mounting from conservatives against Republican efforts to delay any full repeal of the Affordable Care Act from within the ranks of those who have opposed the law for more than six years."