The crowning achievement of the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama and the Democratic Party, the National Health Care Law, known as Obamacare, is headed for a rendezvous with destiny.
Politico.com reports that:
The Obama administration chose not to ask the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to re-hear a pivotal health reform case Monday, signaling that it’s going to ask the Supreme Court to decide whether President Barack Obama’s health reform law is constitutional.
The move puts the Supreme Court in the difficult position of having to decide whether to take the highly politically charged case in the middle of the presidential election.
The Justice Department is expected to ask the court to overturn an August decision by a panel of three judges in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that found the law’s requirement to buy insurance is unconstitutional. The suit was brought by 26 states, the National Federation of Independent Business, and several individuals.
Since the ruling, the Justice Department had until Monday to ask the entire 11th Circuit to review the case. Administration lawyers didn’t file the paperwork by the 5 p.m. deadline, so the ruling would stand unless the Justice Department asks the Supreme Court to step in.
The petition isn’t due until November, and the administration could get an extension.
Opponents of the law had expected the government to ask for the so-called en banc hearing to delay a ruling by the Supreme Court.
America’s physicians, who know a lot more about America’s Health Care System than Obama ever will, have deserted the flagship association of their profession, due to its support of the Frankenstein Monster known as Obamacare.
Per Forbes.com:
According to a new survey, the majority of doctors do not believe that the AMA represents their views and interests. Much of that dissatisfaction stems from the organization’s support for President Obama’s contentious health care reform package.
That shouldn’t be surprising. The AMA declares that its core mission is to “help doctors help patients.” But ObamaCare undermines that pursuit by making life harder for physicians and driving down the quality of care available to patients.
The survey — conducted by physician recruitment firm Jackson & Coker — is a brutal indictment of both the AMA and ObamaCare. Just 13% of doctors agree with their trade association’s support of the health reform law.
Some doctors are even dissociating themselves from the AMA. Of those who have terminated their membership, 47% cited the organization’s continued backing of the health care law as the primary reason. Increasingly doctors are turning to associations like Docs4PatientCare and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons that actually do represent their interests.
The Jackson & Coker survey joins a large stack of research with similar findings. In February, the National Physicians Survey discovered that more than three times as many doctors believed that the quality of American health care would “deteriorate” rather than “improve” under ObamaCare. Nine of ten physicians think ObamaCare will have a negative impact on their profession.
There’s no doubt that it will.
To jog your memory as to what a monstrosity of governmental bureaucracy Obamacare is, here is a brief overview of the timeline for the implementation of Obamacare, from a pdf prepared by the House Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees on April 2, 2010.
Let’s pick up the timeline with this year:
2011
Bringing Down the Cost of Health Care Coverage.
Strengthening Community Health Centers and the Primary Care Workforce.
Increasing Reimbursement for Primary Care.
Increasing Training Support for Primary Care.
Improving Health Care Quality and Efficiency. Establishes a new Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce health care costs and enhance the quality of care provided to individuals.
Improving Preventive Health Coverage.
Improving Transitional Care for Medicare Beneficiaries.
Expanding Primary Care, Nursing, and Public Health Workforce.
Increasing Access to Home and Community Based Services.
Reporting Health Coverage Costs on Form W-2: Requires employers to disclose the value of the benefit provided by the employer for each employee’s health insurance coverage on the employee’s annual Form W-2.
Standardizing the Definition of Qualified Medical Expenses. Conforms the definition of qualified medical expenses for HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs to the definition used for the itemized deduction. An exception to this rule is included so that amounts paid for over-the-counter medicine with a prescription still qualify as medical expenses.
Increased Additional Tax for Withdrawals from Health Savings Accounts and Archer Medical Savings Account Funds for Non-Qualified Medical Expenses.
Cafeteria Plan Changes.
2012
Encouraging Integrated Health Systems.
Linking Payment to Quality Outcomes.
Reducing Avoidable Hospital Readmissions. Directs CMS to track hospital readmission rates for certain high-volume or high-cost conditions and uses new financial incentives to encourage hospitals to undertake reforms needed to reduce preventable readmissions, which will improve care for beneficiaries and rein in unnecessary health care spending.
Can you say “here come the Death Panels”?
2013
Payments to Primary Care Physicians. Requires that Medicaid payment rates to primary care physicians for furnishing primary care services be no less than 100% of Medicare payment rates in 2013 and 2014.
Administrative Simplification. Health plans must adopt and implement uniform standards and business rules for the electronic exchange of health information to reduce paperwork and administrative burdens and costs.
Encouraging Provider Collaboration. Establishes a national pilot program on payment bundling
Limiting Health Flexible Savings Account Contributions.
Increased Threshold for Claiming Itemized Deduction for Medical Expenses.
Medical device excise tax. Establishes a 2.3 percent excise tax on the sale of a medical device by a manufacturer or importer.
Limiting Executive Compensation.
Fee for patient-centered outcomes research.
2014
Reforming Health Insurance Regulations.
Eliminating Annual Limits.
Ensuring Coverage for Individuals Participating in Clinical Trials.
Establishing Health Insurance Exchanges. Opens health insurance Exchanges in each State to individuals and small employers. This new venue will enable people to comparison shop for standardized health packages. Local hack politicians are lining up for jobs right now.
Providing Health Care Tax Credits.
Ensuring Choice through Free Choice Vouchers.
Promoting Individual Responsibility.
Small Business Tax Credit.
Quality Reporting for Certain Providers.
Health Insurance Provider Fee. Imposes an annual, non-deductible fee on the health insurance sector allocated across the industry according to market share.
2015
Continuing Innovation and Lower Health Costs. Establishes an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop and submit proposals to Congress and the private sector aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, lowering health care costs, improving health outcomes for patients, promoting quality and efficiency, and expanding access to evidence-based care.
Paying Physicians Based on Value Not Volume. Creates a physician value-based payment program to promote increased quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries.
2018
Excise tax on high cost employer-provided health plans becomes effective. Tax is on the cost of coverage in excess of $27,500 (family coverage) and $10,200 (single coverage), increased to $30,950 (family) and $11,850 (single) for retirees and employees in high risk professions.
According to the “experts”, it appears very likely that the Supreme Court will agree to hear the case.
They’d better do it quickly….while America still has the finest health care system in the world.
nice analysis KJ
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Very good blog, and very timely…
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We will know how the Justices will vote when they show up in white doctor’s coats.
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“Bring out your dead!”
That one works for Obama Care or GOTV efforts.
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KJ concludes his ‘analysis’ of the situation with the following:
There are some who would disagree with that statement
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From newsbusters.org:
A new Investor’s Business Daily poll of more than 1,300 physicians finds that nearly two-thirds (65%) don’t back ObamaCare, more than 70% say the government cannot provide insurance coverage for 47 million additional people and save money without harming quality, and 45% of doctors say they “would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement” if the liberal health care plan passes.
Earlier this week, as the front-page story in today’s Investor’s Business Daily noted, the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story touting the American Medical Association (AMA)’s backing of President Obama’s health care plans, while a National Public Radio publicized a poll funded by a pro-ObamaCare group to claim that “nearly three-quarters of doctors said they favor a public option.”
The IBD/TIPP poll of 1,376 physicians suggests that the AMA does not represent most doctors as it advertises and lobbies on behalf of the administration’s plan, and offers a second opinion to the poll (of 991 physicians) originally published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggesting strong support for a bigger government role.
Here’s an excerpt of today’s IBD story (they promise more data from the poll for tomorrow’s paper), followed by excerpts from the Los Angeles Times and NPR stories mentioned in the article:
Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.
The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors’ own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul.
Commonwealth Fund, foundation established (1918) by Anna M. Harkness, wife of Stephen V. Harkness, an early Standard Oil investor, “for the welfare of mankind.” Its headquarters are in New York City. In 1998 its assets were estimated at over $536 million, and it dispensed nearly $23 million. Contributing in its first 20 years to the early development of child guidance clinics and the strengthening of rural hospitals and health departments, in later years it has emphasized health care services, especially for minorities, and the advancement of the well-being of elderly people and children. It also has an international program in health care policy.
So, they kept the rest of the money?
From their website:
The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to improve health care practice and policy. It also has a lengthy history as a professional publisher, developing and publishing books, reports, and other material dating back to 1924.
The Fund produces more than 100 reports, issue briefs, and other professional and scholarly publications each year. The Fund no longer uses traditional printing and mailing to produce and disseminate its publications; all are posted on the Fund Web site and are available free of charge to any interested parties. These publications are written by Fund grantees, staff, and invited expert authors from the health policy community. In addition, Fund staff and grantees author dozens of articles published in the peer-reviewed literature each year.
A New York based foundation, and as their Board of Directors credentials show, they definitely have a Liberal bent.
Tell ya what, skippy. You stilck with the new England Liberals. I stick with the opinion of the American people and the physicians who care for them.
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You forgot GUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!eleventy!!!!!!!!!!!!
The fact that many in our sociey end arguments with a bullet from a gun might have a bit to do with the higher mortality rates in the US than in a 2nd Ad. adverse/totalitarian society…
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You betcha!!!!
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IF the Supreme’s overturn obamacare will Olympia “Historic Vote” Snowe and Mitch “I wanna go home for Christmas” be relieved to be off the hook for allowing this monstrosity to be passed and signed into law?…
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