An insight into the costs of Obamacare

[Ishmael]

A couple of weeks ago, at a party, I had the opportunity to speak with a friend, a data base guru, who is actively engaged in implementing the software required to support Obamacare.

He's a former Los Alamos dude whose skills demand a pretty penny. He was the first to be hired for the assignment and the staff has swollen to 7 more full time programmers along with 2 clerical workers..............administration (2) not included. All of this is added to the Hospitals overhead which directly translates into the bill you are going to pay.

They're no where near completion but still working towards the deadline set by the government of Oct. 1st of this year. A deadline the government itself is no where near being able to meet, let alone service. All of which means the cost run ups will continue. More in taxes for you to pay so the government can do what it has set itself up to do, and more in bills for you to pay so everyone else can comply.

It's a train wreck folks, one that is going to cost us all, and the youngest and healthiest among us, dearly.

As Carson once said, "Once you buy the premise, you've bought the whole schtick." If you're under 40 and you bought the premise........you're fucked.

Ishmael

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The administration has as much admitted that it is a train wreck.



They want a train wreck.



Cloward-Piven

 

[mercury14]

A couple of weeks ago, at a party, I had the opportunity to speak with a friend, a data base guru, who is actively engaged in implementing the software required to support Obamacare.

He's a former Los Alamos dude whose skills demand a pretty penny. He was the first to be hired for the assignment and the staff has swollen to 7 more full time programmers along with 2 clerical workers..............administration (2) not included. All of this is added to the Hospitals overhead which directly translates into the bill you are going to pay.

They're no where near completion but still working towards the deadline set by the government of Oct. 1st of this year. A deadline the government itself is no where near being able to meet, let alone service. All of which means the cost run ups will continue. More in taxes for you to pay so the government can do what it has set itself up to do, and more in bills for you to pay so everyone else can comply.

It's a train wreck folks, one that is going to cost us all, and the youngest and healthiest among us, dearly.

As Carson once said, "Once you buy the premise, you've bought the whole schtick." If you're under 40 and you bought the premise........you're fucked.

Ishmael

One of the hospitals I work at completed the switch to electronic medical records before I even started working there and is in compliance with the law. And it's wonderful. It's a tremendous time saver because data is so accessible and centralized. The other is dealing with the transition and plans to be compliant by the deadline. The main problem is grumpy old docs and nurses with mental blocks against technology.

Electronic medical records require an initial investment but they save time and money in the long run. And moreover they're much more accurate and cut down on patient errors. We literally can't prescribe the wrong (dangerous/ineffective) dose of medication and med interactions don't depend on personal memory or bring caught by a busy pharmacist. Drug info comes up in real time without having to open a book or use a computer program. And if documentation or care is missing or insufficient the chart actually finds you in the network until you come back and complete everything.

And if we need records transferred from one place to another *BAM* it's done. No more paying someone to scan charts, fax, email them. It's a huge time and money saver. And it even works between medical facilities. If a patient comes to an ER with a heart attack we can now quickly access his medical records even if they're from a facility on the other side of the country. It saves time, money, and potentially lives.

So tell me Ish, why would you not want to modernize medical records? Short term cost isn't a good answer because costs are already driven up by inefficiency of documentation and a higher rate of medical error in a paper system. What other reasons do you have?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

One of the hospitals I work at completed the switch to electronic medical records before I even started working there and is in compliance with the law. And it's wonderful. It's a tremendous time saver because data is so accessible and centralized. The other is dealing with the transition and plans to be compliant by the deadline. The main problem is grumpy old docs and nurses with mental blocks against technology.

Electronic medical records require an initial investment but they save time and money in the long run. And moreover they're much more accurate and cut down on patient errors. We literally can't prescribe the wrong (dangerous/ineffective) dose of medication and med interactions don't depend on personal memory or bring caught by a busy pharmacist. Drug info comes up in real time without having to open a book or use a computer program. And if documentation or care is missing or insufficient the chart actually finds you in the network until you come back and complete everything.

And if we need records transferred from one place to another *BAM* it's done. No more paying someone to scan charts, fax, email them. It's a huge time and money saver. And it even works between medical facilities. If a patient comes to an ER with a heart attack we can now quickly access his medical records even if they're from a facility on the other side of the country. It saves time, money, and potentially lives.

So tell me Ish, why would you not want to modernize medical records? Short term cost isn't a good answer because costs are already driven up by inefficiency of documentation and a higher rate of medical error in a paper system. What other reasons do you have?

Exactly. If Obama wants to snoop in your records its there with a click. Makes it easier to identify resource hogs.

 

[mercury14]

Exactly. If Obama wants to snoop in your records its there with a click. Makes it easier to identify resource hogs.

Yeah so they can be death paneled!

Tin foil hatness aside, the federal government would need a court order to access our medical records, the same process needed to access a paper record.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Yeah so they can be death paneled!

Tin foil hatness aside, the federal government would need a court order to access our medical records, the same process needed to access a paper record.

Youre such a naïf when you ignore human nature.

 

[mercury14]

Youre such a naïf when you ignore human nature.

 

[mercury14]

Youre such a naïf when you ignore human nature.

Since the government already knows what your diagnosis and treatment are because you're billing Medicare, why would the government invent a secret hospital surveillance program to find out those things?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Since the government already knows what your diagnosis and treatment are because you're billing Medicare, why would the government invent a secret hospital surveillance program to find out those things?

To send to prosecutors who wanna vilify me for making feral Democrats sad.

 

[mercury14]

To send to prosecutors who wanna vilify me for making feral Democrats sad.

You sound guilty. What have you done?

 

[LiFeNdEaTh]

interesting..

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

A couple of weeks ago, at a party, I had the opportunity to speak with a friend, a data base guru, who is actively engaged in implementing the software required to support Obamacare.

He's a former Los Alamos dude whose skills demand a pretty penny. He was the first to be hired for the assignment and the staff has swollen to 7 more full time programmers along with 2 clerical workers..............administration (2) not included. All of this is added to the Hospitals overhead which directly translates into the bill you are going to pay.

They're no where near completion but still working towards the deadline set by the government of Oct. 1st of this year. A deadline the government itself is no where near being able to meet, let alone service. All of which means the cost run ups will continue. More in taxes for you to pay so the government can do what it has set itself up to do, and more in bills for you to pay so everyone else can comply.

It's a train wreck folks, one that is going to cost us all, and the youngest and healthiest among us, dearly.

As Carson once said, "Once you buy the premise, you've bought the whole schtick." If you're under 40 and you bought the premise........you're fucked.

Ishmael

Anecdote - a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.

 

[Ishmael]

Food for thought folks...............are you really comfortable having morons like Merc. having access to your medical records?

Ishmael

 

[Ishmael]

Anecdote - a short account of a particular incident or event, especially of an interesting or amusing nature.

It's happening at every hospital, clinic, private practice office across the nation. Physicians are shutting down their practices rather than absorb the costs.

Yeppers, having fewer doctors around is really going to drive that cost downwards.

Ishmael

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

Food for thought folks...............are you really comfortable having morons like Merc. having access to your medical records?

Ishmael

Having more educated/skilled workers would cost the business more, which they would then pass on to us. I thought you didn't want to pay more.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

It's happening at every hospital, clinic, private practice office across the nation. Physicians are shutting down their practices rather than absorb the costs.

Yeppers, having fewer doctors around is really going to drive that cost downwards.

Ishmael

I don't feel guilty at all when someone who does not know how to run a business goes out of business.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I don't feel guilty at all when someone who does not know how to run a business goes out of business.

^^^This times infinity.

Ishmael and his fellow travellers have been rending their garments for years about the decline of the single-practice medical practitioner, conveniently overlooking the fact that many doctors nowadays are part of large practices that employ several doctors. It's the same sort of economies of scale that have made the family farm obsolete in favor of corporate mega-farms.

 

[Sean]

Does anyone REALLY believe that Ishtard got invited to a party?

 

[lovecraft68]

It's happening at every hospital, clinic, private practice office across the nation. Physicians are shutting down their practices rather than absorb the costs.

Yeppers, having fewer doctors around is really going to drive that cost downwards.

Ishmael

Why not? Over the years-and well before Obama- big chains and corporations have eliminated the small and family businesses so why not get rid of all the old fashioned small medical practices in favor of huge faceless hospitals?

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

Does anyone REALLY believe that Ishtard got invited to a party?

In his defense he never claims to have been invited.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Does anyone REALLY believe that Ishtard got invited to a party?

Dammit, I completely overlooked that. He got me good on that one. Jeeez.

 

[mercury14]

It's happening at every hospital, clinic, private practice office across the nation. Physicians are shutting down their practices rather than absorb the costs.

Yeppers, having fewer doctors around is really going to drive that cost downwards.

Ishmael

No, they're not. Not in the way you think. What's been happening long before Obamacare came about was physicians selling their practices to network groups attached to one or more medical centers. This allows the physician to continue practicing in their office while having the network manage their books and handle the business end. It also results in far greater integration and availability of patient resources and a much easier time making referrals (the patient's insurance typically works with all providers in the network). It also lowers costs.

The dishonest conservative spin you're buying into is that this is the same thing as doctors quitting or going out of business.

 

[mercury14]

Food for thought folks...............are you really comfortable having morons like Merc. having access to your medical records?

Ishmael

After all my years of access to patient records without a single allegation against me or anyone I work with, yes you should be very comfortable. I'm the exact person you want handling your stuff.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

MERCs a lying sack of merde cuz I usta call up MDs all the time to get the low-down on people. And I've pissed off plenty of judges when I refused to fax records without a court order. The word JUDGE scares the crap outta folks, and they will give you up.

 

[RobDownSouth]

MERCs a lying sack of merde cuz I usta call up MDs all the time to get the low-down on people. And I've pissed off plenty of judges when I refused to fax records without a court order. The word JUDGE scares the crap outta folks, and they will give you up.

In JAMESBWHITETRASH's alternate reality, there is no such thing as HIPAA laws protecting patient privacy.