The constant prophet of doom, gloom and misinterpretation is at it again in regard to Obamacare.
Hasn’t he gotten the main point? Yes, many critics of the law love to deride it, but it is very obvious that after 44 attempts to repeal it, it has not happened because most people like its provisions and they are already benefiting from them. Beyond that, Ryan’s cruel attempt to change Medicare to a voucher program that would give seniors $600 to go out and find coverage from all the competing private insurers is so heartless that he is destroying his reputation as a serious fiscal thinker.
As to the issue of all the horrible costs that are blamed on Obamacare, let me repeat the truth: If the private insurers and the pharmaceutical companies had not spent millions to lobby our lawmakers, the law would have been much less complicated.
Ha, incidentally, the law has been very carefully reviewed and the 3,000-page estimate that has strangely been exaggerated since our prophet started writing about it is ludicrous.
In actuality, the law that was actually signed is 363,086 words. If you throw out all the titles and tables of contents, it reduces to 234,812 words.
For all you Harry Potter fans, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” is longer, at 257,000 words, or about 900 pages.
The law cannot be blamed for the heavy costs of coverage. To its credit, it includes services that are reasonable and comprehensive.
In a March article in Time magazine, Stephen Brill explains why private insurers have increased premiums.
Unlike Medicare, which pays doctors and hospitals fees for services that are calculated as reasonable, based on extensive research on all the costs related to care and administration, and the hospitals and doctors accept those fees. The problem with costs is that the private insurers cannot strike similar agreements with doctors and hospitals and they are forced to pay more for the very same services.
Naturally, the insurers must pass those higher fees onto their clients.
Beyond that, Brill discovered that other rates are imposed on those who have no insurance coverage.
So-called less-expensive policies pay for so few services that they will pay for almost nothing.
Unbelievably, bills sent to uninsured patients are so inflated for every test, service and piece of equipment or medication as to be confiscatory and these unfortunate patients and their families are often forced to sell their homes or even worse, are forced into bankruptcy.
If all billing were done according to the way Medicare pays, everyone would be better off.
In fact, since Obamacare has started to be implemented, and more people have insurance, the deficit has started to go down.
Just imagine the savings if every bill were paid by a fund with the bargaining advantages of Medicare. And everyone would be guaranteed to be able to keep their own doctors.
And the icing on the cake is that, as more people enter the insured pool, jobs in the medical field would increase enormously to meet the care needs for all our population.
Esther Confino
New Hyde Park
