New blow to the US Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

[kandrathe]

In addendum to my last post; we actually have three medical systems in the US. I forgot about the Veterans Affairs run medical system. Nobody sums it up better than Jon Stewart. I would extend the voucher system from the government here as well. Give soldiers the means to get their treatments from wherever they like. Don't make them queue up for months waiting for treatments from VA medical facilities.

Atlantic Article : Neither Public Nor Private The hopeful bit from that article is, "Although the ACA imposes additional regulations on our financing system, it also contains within it initiatives that could in the end significantly reduce regulation. We need to keep making progress along these paths."

Essentially, a significant reason why out costs are spiraling out of control is that the medical industry gets paid according to the number of services they deliver, and is fairly heedless of outcomes, or of patient satisfaction. Therefore they are given incentives (and fear of malpractice) to over treat everyone, knowing that the patient will get more than they need, see little of the costs and some 3rd party will pay for the bulk of it.

This last week, a bill that had 96 of 100 Senators support failed (by majority leader Sen. Reid) to get to the floor, due to Sen. Hatch attaching a repeal of the unpopular Medical Device tax enacted by the ACA. NPR: A Tax Bill Killed By the Push and Pull of Politics On The Hill. This is a big deal here in Minnesota, where both our Dem. Senators stand (with the majority of Minnesotans) against the Medical Device tax, but would be at risk of losing their base party support if they opposed it right before election time.