How Obamacare fails the poor and middle class

[FreakinDJ]

How Obamacare fails the poor and middle class


—New figures indicate that about 11 million people have signed up for health insurance during this latest sign-up period of Obamacare, of which about half will be from the uninsured population, based on previous estimates. Once again, the supporters of the law celebrate with proclamations that "it's working." One could say that assessment is true, if the definition of "working" means enrolling people into anything called health insurance.

To be sure, the law's implementation is progressing, but there is no cause for celebration. It is indeed true that millions of Americans are now newly enrolled into health insurance, but it is disingenuous to tout this as a great success. An estimated 71% of the new insurance arises through Medicaid, using 2014 calculations based on analysis by Haislmaier and Gonshorowski of data from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare.

The harsh reality awaiting these low-income Americans is undeniable: according to 2013 data from a 2014 Merritt Hawkins study, 55% of doctors already refuse new Medicaid patients. According to the HSC Health Tracking Physician Survey, 2008, the percentage of doctors that refuse new Medicaid patients dwarf by about 8 to 10 times the percentage that refuses new private insurance patients.

Such "insurance" from Obamacare not only fails to provide access to doctors, but research in the top medical journals such as Cancer, American Journal of Cardiology, Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation and Annals of Surgery, show that Medicaid beneficiaries suffer worse outcomes than similar patients with private insurance ... all at an added cost of another $800 billion by CBO estimates to taxpayers after the decade.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/04/opinion/atlas-obamacare-poor-middle-class/

[dlwickham]

1. The author of the CNN article works all right wing think tank

Just wanted to point that out

[FreakinDJ]

3. Wish I still had my doctor

[pnwmom]

6. No plan can force all doctors to accept their reiumbursements, including Medicare.

[FSogol]

2. Unrec. n/t

[pnwmom]

4. Getting millions more enrolled in Medicaid is a huge success.

The failure belongs to the Rethug governors who decided to turn down Federal funds.

And the harsh reality is that doctors are also turning down Medicare; and if we had Medicare for all, many doctors could refuse to take those patients and move to private pay -- the same as they are turning down Medicaid right now.

[Purveyor]

5. Expanded Medicaid in Michigan is working extremely well

From what I'm seeing.

They may not be able to get their mamas doctor but there are available doctors that take Medicaid patients.

Before that they had no doctor other than the emergency room no preventive care at all.

Yes it is working here in Michigan which I do not understand how it ever got through the Republican government we have here.