It took nearly 2 years, but President Obama did something right by creating the Deficit Commission.
Their recommendations have managed to roil nearly everyone by taking on some sacred cows such as Social Security and the tax code, but as bold as their recommendations have been, they did not go far enough.
No serious discussion about deficit reduction can take place if healthcare is excluded.
The one trillion dollar price tag that the PPACA (Patient Care and Affordable Care Act) adds to the budget appears to be a contrivance based upon creative accounting methods making it seem like a “bargain”, compared to what now looks like a more realistic figure of 3 trillion dollars. No matter how much we squeeze out of other areas of the government, the simple fact is that Obamacare alone will bankrupt the country.
As everyone focuses on healthcare, and debates tactics such as defunding, repealing and replacing the PPACA, the reality is that it has to be dealt with now, because it helps relatively few, but threatens everyone, especially physicians.
Within the 2700 pages of difficult to decipher language is a veritable alphabet soup of new acts, provisions, and bureaucracies which when coupled with already burdensome regulations on doctors, jeopardizes their ability to do their jobs. The unintended consequences of this will be either a severe doctor shortage as more of them quit medicine out of disgust and frustration, and/or the end of private practice medicine in this country.
Far from hyperbole, current statistics affirm, for the first time that more doctors are employed either by hospitals or by the government, than those who own their own medical practices. The trend is accelerating, which is the intention of those who create the regulations and restrictions (the federal government) that are strangling doctors.
These new regulations in the law may appear to be well intentioned, but they create a logistical nightmare for practicing physicians because of the costs involved with compliance.
Take for example HITECH ( Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act)- the law that legislates how doctors maintain electronic medical records. When coupled with HIPAA( Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996)- another "well intended" law which has turned into a compliance nightmare- simply diverts the focus of the physician from that of a healer, to a bureaucrat.