Increasing Bureaucracy, NOT Lowering Costs
Even as the Administration argues the health care law is lowering costs (more on that in a moment), private sector practitioners are rebelling against its heavy-handed regulatory approach. As the Associated Press reported this morning, “President Obama’s main idea for getting quality health care at less costs” – accountable care organizations – is “in jeopardy” because “medical providers called his administration’s initial blueprint so complex it’s unworkable….In an unusual rebuke, an umbrella group representing premier organizations such as the Mayo Clinic wrote the administration Wednesday saying that more than 90 percent of its members would not participate, because the rules as written are so onerous it would be nearly impossible for them to succeed.” The letter calls the government regulations “overly prescriptive [and] operationally burdensome” – allegations that wouldn’t surprise those who thought passing a 2700 page health care law, which creates 159 new bureaucracies and programs, represented a massive federal overreach. Perhaps the folks who think the health care law isn’t a government takeover of health care should consult with the Mayo Clinic and others like it about the impact of federal regulations and mandates on their ability to improve care.
Meanwhile, the Administration released a report this afternoon advertising the purported Medicare “savings” in the health care law. Both on substance and on policy, the report contains several troubling developments:
- This is the second straight year in which the Administration has issued a report just ahead of the Medicare trustees report (scheduled to be released tomorrow). Some may be concerned about this apparent attempt to undermine the non-partisan Medicare actuary’s office (which prepares the trustees report) by releasing “pre-buttal” reports designed to deflect attention from the official trustees’ report. (A question worth asking: Was the Medicare actuary’s office consulted about this afternoon’s “report” prior to its issue?)
- A total of 87.5% of the report’s purported savings come from reductions in payment levels, as opposed to improved quality of care. The Medicare actuary has previously written that the major savings in the health care law “are unlikely to be sustainable on a permanent annual basis.” (Additionally, the Administration report trumpets cuts to Medicare Advantage, even as the Administration is RAISING Medicare Advantage payment levels, designed to ensure that fewer beneficiaries will lose their current coverage prior to the President’s re-election campaign.)
- Any “savings” that actually materialize will NOT help Medicare’s fiscal condition, but will instead be used to fund new entitlements. The Medicare actuary has confirmed that the Medicare reductions in the law “cannot be simultaneously used to finance other federal outlays and to extend the [Medicare] trust fund.”
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Medicare this year will run a deficit of nearly $40 billion – and will be insolvent within the decade. The program needs true reform, not more regulations and bureaucracy – and not the diversion of Medicare resources to pay for new and unsustainable entitlements.