What this comes down to is the insurance companies viewing the market that is controlled by uniformed individuals that have an agenda that is not like that of the insurance industry, and therefore will play their hand in the game by raising rates and limiting value and services.
The insurance industry is not without power. They may look like they nodding their collective heads in acquiescence to being controlled by others, but behind those eyes of agreement they are calculating how to save company from ruin at the hands of the agenda driven lunatics in Washington. Can the insurance companies survive a battle with Washington also remains to be seen.
In the end, the government will decide that ObamaCare in unworkable, dump the mandates and force the entire nation into a 'single payer' system where the elites in Washington will make all the decisions, which, according to Mr Obama, himself, wanted in the first place when told union members back in 2007 that it will take time. Well here we go. Problem solved.
Accountable Care Organizations Don't Help ObamaCare
Source: James C. Capretta, "Reforming Medicare Integrated Care: An Alternative to the Obama Administration's Accountable Care Organizations," American Enterprise Institute, August 21, 2013.
August 29, 2013
Proponents of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) have advocated for Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) (groups of doctors, hospitals and other health care providers that form new organizations to serve Medicare patients) as a way to supposedly transform how hospitals and physicians care for their patients and thus slow the rate of health spending while also improving the quality of care.
But more than three years after enactment, it is clear that PPACA ACOs are fundamentally flawed because they prevent genuine consumer choice, says James C. Capretta, a visiting fellow with the American Enterprise Institute.
The populations the ACOs are supposed to manage are often unaware that they are enrolled in an ACO and therefore have little incentive to stay within the ACO care network. The ACOs are furthermore hamstrung by their reliance on cumbersome fee-for-service payment systems.
Moreover, critics noted during the law's consideration and shortly after its enactment that structural flaws would prevent ACOs (at least as conceived in the PPACA) from ever having a meaningful impact on the delivery system or on cost growth. But that did not stop the relentless hype by the law's advocates.
More than three years after enactment, it is clear that the ACOs of the PPACA variety will be, at best, minor blips in the nation's $2.7 trillion health system. This is not to suggest that the real accountable care organizations -- the many varied integrated care initiatives underway around the country -- are without merit. In fact, these initiatives have the potential to make some real headway toward slowing cost growth and improving quality. But they have absolutely nothing to do with the PPACA, were originated by private actors and very often predate the PPACA's passage (sometimes by decades).
But more than three years after enactment, it is clear that PPACA ACOs are fundamentally flawed because they prevent genuine consumer choice, says James C. Capretta, a visiting fellow with the American Enterprise Institute.
The populations the ACOs are supposed to manage are often unaware that they are enrolled in an ACO and therefore have little incentive to stay within the ACO care network. The ACOs are furthermore hamstrung by their reliance on cumbersome fee-for-service payment systems.
- On the other hand, long-standing integrated care initiatives have shown potential for slowing cost growth and improving the quality of care.
- Rather than seeking to repair the broken PPACA ACO model, reformers should create a new model that incorporates provider-driven managed care into a larger system of genuine consumer choice and marketplace competition.
Moreover, critics noted during the law's consideration and shortly after its enactment that structural flaws would prevent ACOs (at least as conceived in the PPACA) from ever having a meaningful impact on the delivery system or on cost growth. But that did not stop the relentless hype by the law's advocates.
More than three years after enactment, it is clear that the ACOs of the PPACA variety will be, at best, minor blips in the nation's $2.7 trillion health system. This is not to suggest that the real accountable care organizations -- the many varied integrated care initiatives underway around the country -- are without merit. In fact, these initiatives have the potential to make some real headway toward slowing cost growth and improving quality. But they have absolutely nothing to do with the PPACA, were originated by private actors and very often predate the PPACA's passage (sometimes by decades).
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