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JANUARY 25, 2015

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

 
Healthcare for me, but possibly not for thee
Dr. Fodeman contends that Obamacare undermines the ability of doctors to treat their patients. Doctors may be forced to treat the “average” patient based on government-created protocols—instead of treating their own “individual” patients. The law creates agencies that could design treatment protocols that ultimately determine what procedures and treatments will be covered… continue reading
 
Hour One: Dr. Jason Fodeman             Blog WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
 

DR. JASON FODEMAN       

Dr. Jason Fodeman: “One example is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), one of the many bureaucratic agencies created under the law. The institute’s mandate is to conduct government-sponsored research comparing the efficacy of medical and surgical interventions. It draws its conclusions not from individual patient outcomes but on the average outcomes of a pre-set population. Many observers fear that federal regulators might use this research to limit or refuse to cover treatments that it deems “ineffective.” Medicare, for example, could consider PCORI’s findings when determining what procedures it will or won’t cover and how it will reimburse those interventions. This would limit patients from getting the care that they need and want.”

Dr. Jason Fodeman: “PCORI’s methodology is contradictory to the ethos of healthcare. Our profession cares first and foremost for the individual patient, every one of whom is unique. Physicians need the flexibility to treat not the “average” patient but the actual patient. Yet under the PCORI, physicians’ professional judgment regarding treatments for individuals could be replaced with rigid rules set by regulators. This would ignore the crucial differences between different patients as well as the various cultural, religious, and life experiences that patients bring with them to the doctor’s office. It should go without saying that government-set treatment protocols can’t meet the unique needs of every patient.”

Dr. Jason Fodeman: “Another potential patient-harming ACA programs is the Value-Based Payment Modifier (VBPM), which establishes an arbitrary cost limit for physicians involved in Medicare. Doctors who transgress this threshold will be punished with fiscal retribution…This also threatens to compromise patient health outcomes and access. A doctor nearing the VBPM limit may face a perverse choice whether to administer a necessary treatment. It will put tremendous pressure on physicians to avoid ordering tests, consults, or medicines that their patients may need—almost certainly resulting in worse medical care.”

Dr. Jason Fodeman: “Compounding these problems will be one of the most-controversial bureaucracies created by the ACA: The Independent Advisory Board (IPAB). Composed of fifteen unelected bureaucrats, IPAB has the power to “recommend” legally binding cuts to Medicare in an attempt to hold down spending. Most of these cuts will take the form of lower reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals.”

 
Healthcare for me, but possibly not for thee
sfiber optic exam, and ENT consultation. Ultimately, the doctors concluded that he has acid reflux.

As the leader of the free world, Obama certainly deserves top notch medical care. Yet the breadth and quality of medical care that he received starkly contrasts with the diminished care that too many Americans could soon receive thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

As a physician, I strive to give the best medical care to every patient who walks through the door. The ACA has the potential to undermine my ability to do this in a number of ways.

One example is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), one of the many bureaucratic agencies created under the law. The institute’s mandate is to conduct government-sponsored research comparing the efficacy of medical and surgical interventions. It draws its conclusions not from individual patient outcomes but on the average outcomes of a pre-set population. Many observers fear that federal regulators might use this research to limit or refuse to cover treatments that it deems “ineffective.” Medicare, for example, could consider PCORI’s findings when determining what procedures it will or won’t cover and how it will reimburse those interventions. This would limit patients from getting the care that they need and want.

PCORI’s methodology is contradictory to the ethos of healthcare. Our profession cares first and foremost for the individual patient, every one of whom is unique. Physicians need the flexibility to treat not the “average” patient but the actual patient. Yet under the PCORI, physicians’ professional judgment regarding treatments for individuals could be replaced with rigid rules set by regulators. This would ignore the crucial differences between different patients as well as the various cultural, religious, and life experiences that patients bring with them to the doctor’s office. It should go without saying that government-set treatment protocols can’t meet the unique needs of every patient.

Another potential patient-harming ACA programs is the Value-Based Payment Modifier (VBPM), which establishes an arbitrary cost limit for physicians involved in Medicare. Doctors who transgress this threshold will be punished with fiscal retribution.

This also threatens to compromise patient health outcomes and access. A doctor nearing the VBPM limit may face a perverse choice whether to administer a necessary treatment. It will put tremendous pressure on physicians to avoid ordering tests, consults, or medicines that their patients may need—almost certainly resulting in worse medical care.

Compounding these problems will be one of the most-controversial bureaucracies created by the ACA: The Independent Advisory Board (IPAB). Composed of fifteen unelected bureaucrats, IPAB has the power to “recommend” legally binding cuts to Medicare in an attempt to hold down spending. Most of these cuts will take the form of lower reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals.

This, along with other provisions of the law, makes it highly likely that many doctors could no longer afford to accept Medicare. As a result, patients will have a harder time finding it. Ultimately, this will result in longer waits for the patients who need care the most.

At first glance, the three examples I’ve named mainly apply only to Medicare. Yet trends in Medicare inevitably influence—and even dictate—trends in the private insurance market, as studies in recent years have demonstrated. Changes in Medicare reimbursement rates typically lead to changes in private insurance reimbursement rates. Similarly, insurers typically mimic changes in Medicare coverage.

Given these trends, the Affordable Care Act is likely to lead to longer waits, restricted access, and worse health care for a significant percentage of patients.
 

Additional Articles:

11/17/2014     Doctor: How Medicaid fails the poor

11/08/2014     Knoxville Senteniel "Medicaid expansion could add to delays"

11/14/2013     Dr. Jason Fodeman, MD – ACA website failure is not the real problem

10/19/2012     PPACA and the Future of Medicine: A young physician speaks out.

02/19/2010     Obamacare Bends the Cost Curve Up: Here Is How to Bend It Down

02/17/2010     "Bending the Curve": What Really Drives Health Care Spending 

06/25/2009     Health Information Technology: The Case for a Sound Federal Policy

11/29/2009     Defensive medicine costs

04/21/2009     Obama's Cure Worse Than What Sickens Us 

"Technocracy Rising"  - Part 2

(Continued from last week)

www.TechnocracyRising.com WE THE PEOPLE RADIO
Today's guest: Patrick Wood
 
And another episode of scare-the-crap-out-of-you radio :-)

Last week we visited with Tracee Mann about the technology embedded within Common Core. That looked at a specific application of Technocracy and focused the web that is strangling our privacy and our ability to make our own choices. Click HERE to access that show page.
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The dark horse of the New World Order is not Communism, Socialism or Fascism. It is Technocracy.

With meticulous detail and an abundance of original research, Patrick M. Wood uses Technocracy Rising to connect the dots of modern globalization in a way that has never been seen before so that the reader can clearly understand the globalization plan, its perpetrators and its intended endgame.

In the heat of the Great Depression during the 1930s, prominent scientists and engineers proposed a utopian energy-based economic system called Technocracy that would be run by those same scientists and engineers instead of elected politicians. Although this radical movement lost momentum by 1940, it regained status when it was conceptually adopted by the elitist Trilateral Commission (co-founded by Zbigniew Brzezinski and David Rockefeller) in 1973 to become its so-called "New International Economic Order."

In the ensuing 41 years, the modern expression of Technocracy and the New International Economic Order is clearly seen in global programs such as Agenda 21, Sustainable Development, Green Economy, Councils of Governments, Smart Growth, Smart Grid, Total Awareness surveillance initiatives and more.

Wood contends that the only logical outcome of Technocracy is Scientific Dictatorship, as already seen in dystopian literature such as Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932) and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1948), both of whom looked straight into the face of Technocracy when it was still in its infancy.

With over 250 footnotes, an extensive bibliography and clarity of writing style, Wood challenges the reader to new levels of insight and understanding into the clear and present danger of Technocracy, and how Americans might be able to reject it once again.
 

Technocracy Rising

Please note: Your book(s) will be personally signed by the author! Price discounts for quantity purchases are available in the Shopping Cart, starting at 10% off for two books.


 
Video: Patrick Wood  presents Technocracy to the Eagle Forum Conference
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