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Monday, June 21, 2010

The Single-payer / Multiple-liar System

Throughout the debate on health care "reform" Obama has publicly stated, multiple times, that he had no plan to create a single-payer system. To the shock of nobody who's actually paying attention - he's lying.
For many large hospital systems Medicare and Medicaid patients make up a significant percentage of their total volume - sometimes 40% or more. The problem for the hospitals is that Medicare reimburses them at 75% of their cost, not their retail price, and Medicaid reimburses at only 60% of cost. There's simply no way hospitals can survive that payment scale without sticking it to their other "customers". So they're forced to charge exorbitant rates to the other, privately insured patients - with the result that those who are privately insured are subsidizing the health care of those whose costs are paid by the government. That is not a model for the long-term survival of either the hospitals or the private insurance companies.
Knowing that this system is completely unsustainable two Senators met with the director of the White House Office of Health Reform, Nancy-Ann DeParle, before the final vote on the health care bill. They told her that unless the reimbursement issue was addressed the health care reform bill would eventually bankrupt private insurance in this country - leaving no option but a single-payer system. Ms. DeParle reportedly told them "that's our intention".
So we have the White House Office of Health Reform purposely pursuing the destruction of private health insurance to force a move to a single-payer system, while Obama, Reid and Pelosi are publicly claiming there is no such plan.
Is anyone surprised anymore at the magnitude of the lies being told by Obama and his minions?