In Rare Unity, Hospitals, Doctors and Insurers Criticize Health Bill

[TomCADem]

Source: MSN/NY Times

It is a rare unifying moment. Hospitals, doctors, health insurers and some consumer groups, with few exceptions, are speaking with one voice and urging significant changes to the Republican health care legislation that passed the House on Thursday.

The bill’s impact is wide-ranging, potentially affecting not only the millions who could lose coverage through deep cuts in Medicaid or no longer be able to afford to buy coverage in the state marketplaces. With states allowed to seek waivers from providing certain benefits, employers big and small could scale back what they pay for each year or reimpose lifetime limits on coverage. In particular, small businesses, some of which were strongly opposed to the Affordable Care Act, could be free to drop coverage with no penalty.

The prospect of millions of people unable to afford coverage led to an outcry from the health care industry as well as consumer groups. They found an uncommon ally in some insurers, who rely heavily on Medicaid and Medicare as mainstays of their business and hope the Senate will be more receptive to their concerns.

“The American Health Care Act needs important improvements to better protect low- and moderate-income families who rely on Medicaid or buy their own coverage,” Marilyn B. Tavenner, the chief executive of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s trade group, said in a strongly worded statement.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/in-rare-unity-hospitals-doctors-and-insurers-criticize-health-bill/ar-BBAL8em?li=BBnb7Kz

[Docreed2003]

1. This doctor is 1000% against it....

This isn't a healthcare bill. This bill dismantles healthcare and access to care and everything good that the ACA accomplished, all in the name of a massive tax break to those that need it least!!! People will die, hospitals will close, and then what?? Dems will be left to try and put the pieces back together again like they always are.

[still_one]

2. I suspect you are not alone, especially since the AMA has come out against it also

[Skittles]

3. I am curious why doctors don't speak out more about repuke policies

for example, telling doctors to give women procedures doctors don't recommend and women don't want (ultrasounds, anti-choice stuff)....why isn't the AMA all over that

[Docreed2003]

4. That's a question I'm afraid I can't answer..

Much like the rest of the electorate, doctors come in all stripes of political persuasion. I can only speak for myself.

[Dustlawyer]

7. Do you think it is enough to get doctors to turn their waiting room TVs off of Fox?

I have moved my chair out into the hallway after they refused to change the channel. I told them that I did not come to the doctor to be brainwashed. I told the doctor the same when he came in. He would not comment or agree to change the channel. Funny, they put me in a treatment room very quickly after that! Glad it was only a one time visit.

Another place had the 700 Club on and everyone was watching (had no choice) when Pat Robertson's co-host read a viewer's letter. The letter was from an elderly man who swore to God many years before that he would let God take care of his health. Now his kids were begging him to go because they were all sure he had cancer. He asked Pat if he should do as they asked and break his oath to God. Pat told him to tell his kids to leave him alone and trust in God to heal him. He then gave the same advice to is viewers, including us while we waited for the doctor. When I told the front desk that they were showing Pat Robertson telling people to let God heal them and not see a doctor they finally changed the channel

I have thanked one local imaging place that put up pictures from local photographers up all over their waiting room. It was wonderful and I have thanked them every time I have had to go.

Most doctor's waiting rooms where I am in S.E. Texas have a TV or multiple TV's on Fox.

[Docreed2003]

8. I honestly don't have a TV in my waiting room for the reasons you described.

I don't talk politics with patients and I dont talk religion with my patient. Given my profession, most people's anxiety is already through the roof because they're seeing a surgeon and I've always felt that a TV in the waiting room is a distraction. We have black and white pictures on the walls that my wife and I have taken over the years and play music. Pts seem to be happy with that setup.

[Dustlawyer]

9. Thank you for that! I bet many of your patients appreciate this!

I wonder if the Fox News in the waiting room is more of a Southern thing, or is it all over. In the law insurance defense attorneys are almost all Republican and plaintiff attorneys are mostly Democrats.

I am obviously an attorney by my moniker, and in my line of work tort reform has such implications I sometimes have to explain why they cannot have a case when they thought they should. It also has to be explained for appeals because politics plays a huge role in the Courts of Appeals and SCOTUS. I do get some guilty pleasure out of explaining to Republicans that the Republican politicians and judges do not like their lawsuit against corporations. For some reason they think Trump will help them and I have to explain that as a big business leader he hates suits against companies and would hurt their ability to sue if he could.

5 new tort reform bills passed the House and are heading to the Senate. They never seem to do anything to stop corporations ability to sue of course, they are all directed at individuals suing corporations. They have created the belief that our courts are buried in frivolous lawsuits when 98% of U.S. Judges say they do not have a problem with them. That is because we only get paid if we recover for our clients and judges throw out unmeritorious lawsuits.

[riversedge]

5. These groups need to be more vocal as the Senate gears up for its bill.

[Honeycombe8]

6. Wow. I keep getting my mind blown by all the news here today.

I hope someone is listening, and I hope voters are letting their senators know how they feel.