TBD on Ning
and this is a turnaround...
this is quite interesting considering the motley fool has been pretty much against the ACA...
The Most Revolutionary Aspect of Obamacare
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November 29, 2013 | Comments (53)
You may think you've got Obamacare down pat, knowing most of the vital things about it. You probably know, for example, that it calls for people to no longer be denied health insurance due to pre-existing conditions. It also requires people to have health insurance, which is available now in every state via "exchanges," or pay a penalty. There's a lot more you might know or can learn about it, but one part of the massive health-care reform is going largely unnoticed and it's rather revolutionary.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (referred to sometimes as PPACA or just Obamacare) is looking to turn the American health-care system on its head by providing incentives to get people healthier. This is a win-win proposition, as improved health can prevent many billions in health-care spending, while also extending lives. Until Obamacare, doctors and the greater health-care system generally operated under a fee-for-service system, which can seem reasonable, but doesn't always serve everyone well. In some cases, for example, patients are given more tests than they really need.
Obamacare dares to suggest that health-care providers be rewarded according to how effective they are and how healthy they keep their patients. The old system has been more reactive, with care providers treating people according to the conditions they present when examined. The new vision is more proactive, with care providers doing what they can to keep their entire populations as healthy as possible. Initiatives supported include making care more accessible via extended hours (which has been shown to reduce overall health-care costs by 10.4% ) and promoting a "medical home" model, where teams of health-care providers including doctors, nurses, case managers, and hospitals work together to coordinate the care of their populations.
Home, sweet medical home
Obamacare has some pilot programs in place, promoting Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs). Accountable Care Organizations are created when health-care providers, hospitals, and related organizations come together and share responsibility for the health of a particular population. Their compensation will be based on their keeping costs down while also keeping their populations healthy.
Patient-centered medical homes are the "fastest-growing innovation in medical care," according to Consumer Reports, with more than 10% of primary-care physicians, some 27,000 of them, participating. One of the Obamacare-funded pilot programs "is paying 500 practices in eight states to turn themselves into medical homes for more than 300,000 Medicare beneficiaries. If any of those pilots, funded by the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, turn out to effectively improve care and lower cost, Medicare and Medicaid can roll them out nationwide without additional congressional approval."
To get a better idea of what this new medical world can look like, imagine these practices as routine: Instead of having to remember what preventive care you need, your health status will be tracked electronically, with you and your health-care providers issued reminders when it's time for, say, a colonoscopy. Instead of having to call your doctor's office for test results, they'll be available online for you. If you're given a prescription or told to get a blood test, your medical home will be making sure that the medication has been picked up and is being taken, and will be following up to make sure the bloodwork is done, too. If you're hospitalized, your doctor's office will be notified automatically. Meanwhile, the hospital won't be reimbursed according to how many services they provide you. Instead, they'll see their rewards docked if patients are readmitted within 30 days or develop infections -- and will earn a bonus if patients report good results and high satisfaction. When a primary doctor sends you to a specialist, the two physicians will be involved in coordinating your care, not just passing you along from one doc to another.
The new medical world will feature teams of care providers, supported by insurers, who are invested in your good and improving health. They'll be aiming to give you effective care and will be rewarded for doing so. While most of us and the media are focused on Obamacare's temporary website glitches, these exciting innovations are not getting the attention they deserve.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by LoveLife&Laughter on
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Good information PA :0)
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Permalink Reply by exedir on
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No, quite true, as it has been for over thirty years as innovations and renovations of the health care delivery system have been attempted. The problem is not the idea, it has been the implementation and the linking of financial resources to pay for this that has held back much of what can be done to change how and what is delivered to patients. As long as fee-for-service dominates the payment method, nothing much can change as to how health care is delivered. And yes, a lot of this started with the HMO Act(93-222) of 1972 under the Nixon Administration as to change in incentives and payment for services.
Another persistent problem is patient behavior and unhealthy lifestyles. Without patient compliance and changes in how we live, like, eat and exercise in moderation, stop smoking and drinking and remove stress much of the rest is rearranging the deck chairs. Easiest way to control medical costs is to cap them, and then the most difficult result is dealing with access and appropriate levels of treatment that provide results within limits, hopefully medical not financial.
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Nah....
Republicans have done nothing to fix Nixon's healthcare failure, Democrats have been blocked by Republicans.
Prices are up this year -- BUT -- they are lower than they would have been without ACA. (Congressional Budget Ofrfice)
We already tried to "cap" costs. It was called denial of service and contract cancellation. Sounds good, but every Republican I know changed their minds when it happened to them, not someone else.
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Permalink Reply by ProblemAgain on
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sort of like the attempt to change social security and other programs before the baby boomers begin to realize that it may be the only stable income they will have after their working life regardless of what the charlatans have posited about the gains from the stock market vastly outpacing yadda yadda yadda...those people used to come thru town with a wagon selling cures for the dropsy and lumbago. now they do financial services and the only thing the middle class has left to be fleeced out of is social security. so ya'll come on down and buy some of this here enron stock now..it's got nowhere to go but up
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They call it "Capitalism" Our friends on the right argue unrestricted and unregulated Capitalism is a good thing, like in, what could go wrong? Except depressions, recessions, scams, For-Profit Healthcare cancellation, denial of service, etc. According to our Conservative SCOTUS, corporations are people and racism is over. The fact that real Conservative people are so dead set on protecting Wall Street unrestricted Capitalism instead of asking for some protection for their own families angers me.
American Greed uber alles?
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Kentucky Governor To Mitch McConnell: Get Your Facts Straight On Obamacare
WASHINGTON -- It was just Wednesday night that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) railed against the Affordable Care Act, calling it a "catastrophic failure" for people everywhere.
"This is beyond fixing. It needs to be pulled out root and branch and we need to start over," McConnell said during an interview on Fox's "On The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "It's been a catastrophe for health care and for the economy at large."
But the governor of McConnell's home state came to Capitol Hill on Thursday with a vastly different message: the health care law is working, and people in Kentucky can't get enough of it.
"I have a U.S. senator who keeps saying Kentuckians don't want this. Well, the facts don't prove that out," Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) told reporters.
Beshear said more than 550,000 people have visited the state's Obamacare enrollment website since it launched on Oct. 1. More than 180,000 have called into the health care call center and about 69,000 people have signed up, or about 1,000 Kentuckians per day. Of those who have signed up, he said, 41 percent are under the age of 35.
"There is a tremendous pent-up demand in Kentucky for affordable health care," Beshear said. "People are hungry for it."
The governor also boasted of the law's economic benefits to the state. Over the next eight years, he said, it will generate $15 billion for Kentucky's economy and create 17,000 new jobs.
McConnell spokesman Don Stewart responded by citing an article about 280,000 Kentuckians being forced to give up their current insurance policies as a result of Obamacare requiring stricter guidelines for coverage.
Beshear made his remarks during a press conference with House Democratic leaders, just after meeting with the full Democratic caucus. He said his message to them was to "be patient, take a deep breath" as the administration works out kinks in getting the health care website fully up and running for people around the country.
Asked if he thinks Obamacare will be a factor in McConnell's reelection campaign in 2014, Beshear said "it may well be," but perhaps not in the way McConnell hopes.
"I predict it will be an issue where people start looking at the critics and say, 'What was all that yelling and screaming about? I think you must have misinformed us about the Affordable Care Act,'" he said.
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Posted: 12/05/2013 12:11 pm EST | Updated: 12/05/2013 3:25 pm EST