Will Employers Choose Your Doctors?

Will Employers Choose Your Doctors?
It was a startling announcement. Twenty large companies have joined to start the Health Transformation Alliance. With approximately four million workers between them, they “plan to share information about members’ employee health spending and outcomes, with an eye toward using findings to change how they contract for care.”

Bernie Doesn't Understand Health Care

Bernie Doesn't Understand Health Care

Bernie Sanders proposes Medicare-For-All. His health care proposal includes six new taxing streams, the end of private insurance and employer-sponsored coverage, and $28 trillion in new federal spending.

King Zuckerberg?

King Zuckerberg?

Read the strange letter from Facebook’s CEO. Addressed to his newborn daughter Max on December 1, it’s chock full of collectivist thoughts written to the world. Peek inside the mind of the man in control of Facebook with the data of 1.55 billion people at his fingertips. 

Deputizing Doctors

Deputizing Doctors

Americans need to see “population health” for what it really is. Last week, a POLITICO panel discussed the term “population health,” which is key to Obamacare’s transformation away from the private practice of medicine -- and into the everyday lives of Americans – starting with Medicare. 

Carly Got it Backwards

Carly Got it Backwards

Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, had great things to say about free markets in health care at the recent November GOP debate, until this:

Scary Business

Scary Business

On Friday, the Obama administration published a final rule on physician payment for 2016. The 1,358-page Medicare rule, with the names of 28 bureaucrats you can contact with questions, makes changes to physician payment and Medicare Part B. A similar rule will be issued next year for 2017 and likely every year after.  Who has time to read these??

Stacking the Deck Against Patients

Stacking the Deck Against Patients

There’s trouble ahead for doctors and patients. Last Friday, the eleven members of the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee were announced. It includes seven physicians to advise HHS on how to pay doctors differently. Republicans established the committee in the “Doc Fix” bill (MACRA, the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015), which President Obama happily signed because it expanded Obamacare controls.

18 Ways They’re Wrong . . .

18 Ways They’re Wrong . . .

Remember the Trojan Horse? This deceptive “gift” was used to gain entry into Troy. Once the wooden horse got through the protective gates, Greek soldiers waited inside for nightfall, exited the horse, opened the city gates, let in the Greek army, and staged an attack.

Is Obamacare a Dead Issue?

Is Obamacare a Dead Issue?

The silence was deafening.  Not one question was asked about Obamacare during the second GOP presidential debate. POLITICO reporter Paul Demko, echoing my sentiments, tweeted the moderator, “Jake! Jake? JAKE: What about Obamacare?” 

Is Partial Repeal the Right Gamble?

Is Partial Repeal the Right Gamble?

The GOP budget reconciliation bill to repeal Obamacare is back in play – sort of. The GOP appears ready to use reconciliation, which only needs a simple majority vote for passage, to repeal a limited list of Obamacare provisions. However, Morning Consult reports, “the move will be symbolic, since any such legislation heads right to the White House for a veto.”