XPost: alt.health, alt.politics.trump, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: fjb@nytimes.com   
      
   In article    
    wrote:   
   >   
   > Everybody say, "THANKS DEMOCRATS!" "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!"   
   >   
      
   Democrats insist that further tinkering with health care will   
   make it more accessible, but evidence suggests it will cost   
   people dearly.   
      
   The Biden administration announced it would again reduce   
   payments to Medicare physicians, this time by 8.42 percent.   
   According to a recent survey, 92 percent of medical group   
   practices report that Medicare payments do not cover the cost of   
   providing care.   
      
   The federal government can stay in business when it takes in   
   less revenue than it expends. Why? Because it can print money   
   and no one else can. To stay in business, physicians will have   
   to reject Medicare patients; access will decrease once again.   
   And with Democrats pushing legislation like the wrongly named   
   Inflation Reduction Act, things will only get worse.   
      
   The Affordable Care Act (ACA) took $716 billion from Medicare to   
   pay for non-medical, bureaucratic spending. Before the ACA, the   
   average maximum wait time to see a primary care doctor was an   
   unacceptable 99 days. After Obamacare was implemented with its   
   cuts to physician payments, wait times increased to a medically   
   unconscionable 122 days. Patients have to wait four months to   
   find out if belly pain is gas, an ulcer, or cancer. With the   
   latest round of cuts, the wait times could stretch from months   
   to years.   
      
   In hearings prior to the passage of the ACA, Robert Moffit of   
   the Heritage Foundation warned Congress, “You can’t get more of   
   something by paying less for it.” Democrats disregarded this   
   obvious economic truism in 2010 and are doing so again in 2022.   
      
   If further cuts are made to Medicare in the pursuit of spending   
   “health care” dollars elsewhere, this will literally cause death   
   by preventing Medicare patients from getting access to care.   
   Accountants for the Medicare Trust have reported the trust will   
   be insolvent by 2026, less than four years hence. At that time,   
   Medicare will run out of money, there will be no accepting   
   physicians, and seniors will die from lack of hospital care.   
      
   Death-by-queueing refers to patients dying waiting in line for   
   technically possible but unavailable life-saving care. Such   
   avoidable deaths have been documented in Medicaid programs as   
   well as government-supported Tricare for veterans. Twelve-year-   
   old Deamonte Driver died from a dental cavity because no   
   pediatric dentists in his area would accept the low Medicaid   
   rates. In Illinois, 752 Medicaid enrollees died waiting for life-   
   saving care that never came. An internal VA audit reported that   
   “47,000 veterans may have died” waiting in line for care. The   
   bottom line is that as the government increases its spending on   
   expensive insurance policies, the public’s access to care   
   decreases.   
      
   The reality of “can’t get more by paying less” is ignored by   
   Biden’s latest health care scam built into the Inflation   
   Reduction Act. The bill allows Medicare to directly negotiate   
   drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Through the Centers   
   for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Washington will simply   
   dictate drug prices similar to how a 4-year-old negotiates with   
   a tyrannosaurus rex.   
      
   History shows what invariably happens when prices are pre-   
   determined: shortages occur of current drugs, and the   
   development of new drugs halts. However, despite this, market   
   forces work even when government distorts the market. When   
   prices are fixed by the government rather than market variables   
   and determined by millions of consumer choices, suppliers must   
   react or go out of business. When revenue goes down by fiat,   
   suppliers — manufacturers or service providers — compensate by   
   cutting their costs by reducing quality, lowering production, or   
   both.   
      
   Biden’s “negotiated” Medicare prices will cause shortages of   
   desperately needed drugs, and worse, the development of new   
   medicines will cease.   
      
   Federal price fixing in health care is neither new nor limited   
   to drugs. The government has been pre-determining payments to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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