The Bait and Switch

[daredtowork]

19. News released on same day as Super Bowl

On Google News it seems to have gone primarily to business journals. Is that where the Obama Administration sent the press releases? Or is it that who they invited to the press conference? This is the glowing headline from Forbes:

The White House Promises Exciting Medicare Reforms, But There's A Catch

http://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbinder/2015/01/30/the-white-house-promises-exciting-medicare-reforms-but-theres-a-devil-in-the-details/

(The "catch" is for the doctors, who have to meet quality standards to get bonuses, etc...)

I did see this errant article from a primary care physician:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-ed-hhs-medicare-20150129-story.html

As mentioned in my preceding comment, I second this emotion. I have a complex medical situation, but there are a lot of things that could have been done for me if my primary care physician had been able to deal with more than one problem per visit. Instead, my problems have been strung out far longer than they've needed to be, I've been kept in a lot of pain and disability when that didn't need to happen, I've been kept in poverty and on public support when I could have been "work ready" sooner, etc. If the government wants to save money, it could empower primary care doctors to ask people like me: "What are your barriers to health?" and listen to the answers. My primary barrier to health has been my very-well-meaning medical clinic itself! But as a patient, I'm caught in the middle of a "terms of employment" fight between health care providers and the government.