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None [private insurance] have come out with any limiting of re-admissions for the next go round of signing up.
This medicare re-admission penalty has been out there for some time and known.
Obama is specifically targeting seniors for reduced access to medical care.
Fines across the board, then. All age groups, including Medicaid. Why is Obama specifically targeting seniors who've already paid into the system for restrictions and limits on access to medial care?
Medicaid patients have very high readmission statistics. They haven't paid into the system for years like Medicare patients have, but Obama isn't restricting or limiting their care. He's only cutting off access to medical care for Medicare patients.
No one is cutting off access to medical care for Medicare patients.
Seriously. How do attempts to improve care translate into "cutting off care?"
The reason the focus is on Medicare is because Medicare is a federal program. Medicaid is administered by the states so it is up to each individual state to determine their own benchmarks for care.
And, BTW, many, many, many seniors receive Medicaid, so, to suggest that they haven't paid into the 'system' via their taxes, etc. is just plain wrong.
One of the major goals of the ACA is to reduce overpayments to Medicare providers. If fining hospitals for not getting it right the first time aids in achieving that goal, I am all for it, and, anyone who purports to want to see an end to government over-spending should be as well.
Fines across the board, then. All age groups, including Medicaid. Why is Obama specifically targeting seniors who've already paid into the system for restrictions and limits on access to medial care?
Medicaid patients have very high readmission statistics. They haven't paid into the system for years like Medicare patients have, but Obama isn't restricting or limiting their care. He's only cutting off access to medical care for Medicare patients.
Provide a link. While some seniors get both medicare and medicaid, there are many young medicaid patients, e.g. women and children.
Where are the Obamacare regulations for fining private insurance for readmissions? There aren't any.
Hope liberals aren't too emotionally attached to their older relatives. They're expendable under Obamacare.
Private insurers already question every single readmission within a specified time-frame, and, will absolutely withhold payment if they determine that care was not satisfactory the first (second, third...) time.
This was true when my husband was in and out the hospital back in 2002-2004 so, it has nothing to do with the ACA.
No one is cutting off access to medical care for Medicare patients.
Seriously. How do attempts to improve care translate into "cutting off care?"
How is fining hospitals for readmissions improving care?
Cutting off readmissions for those who have a relapse or complications following an illness or surgery is NOT improving care. It's DENYING care.
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One of the major goals of the ACA is to reduce overpayments to Medicare providers. If fining hospitals for not getting it right the first time aids in achieving that goal, I am all for it, and, anyone who purports to want to see an end to government over-spending should be as well.
Relapse and complications following an illness or surgery are frequently unpreventable. Literally MILLIONS of research publications acknowledge that fact. There is no 100% problem free treatment or cure for a serious illness or surgery.
Obamacare SCREWS seniors who are so unfortunate as to have an unpreventable condition.
Provide a link. While some seniors get both medicare and medicaid, there are many young medicaid patients, e.g. women and children.
I already did provide a link. There is no mention of cutting Medicaid patients' access to readmission after illness or surgery. Obamacare only screws Medicare seniors.
How is fining hospitals for readmissions improving care?
Cutting off readmissions for those who have a relapse or complications following an illness or surgery is NOT improving care. It's DENYING care.
Relapse and complications following an illness or surgery are frequently unpreventable. Literally MILLIONS of research publications acknowledge that fact. There is no 100% problem free treatment or cure for a serious illness or surgery.
Obamacare SCREWS seniors who are so unfortunate as to have an unpreventable condition.
Who is cutting off re-admissions?
You keep saying this and yet have provided no evidence that this is true.
What many seem to be willfully missing is the fact that this is but one piece in the much larger program.
As was noted in one of the links up-thread, this is not a stand-alone effort. Providers and caregivers do recognize that there is a great need to coordinate care so that patients do get and take their meds, have in-home care if needed, etc. and the goal again is to shift some of the funds that are now being paid to hospitals for re-admissions to that follow-up care. Surely even you can acknowledge that there are gaps in care that need to be filled and that simply trucking people back and forth to hospital is not the best and most healthful solution.
Just cannot for the life of me understand why any and every change to the status quo is automatically bad.
Me belief is that it has to do with the quality of the care they are receiving.
It's not always about turn-around. How many patients they process every day/night.
Crappy care results in readmission. If they get a proper diagnosis and the proper care/meds then perhaps they can lower the re-admissions.
I often feel that I have to be constantly questioning the docs I see to make sure they give me the right care and instructions/meds.
Private insurers already question every single readmission within a specified time-frame, and, will absolutely withhold payment if they determine that care was not satisfactory the first (second, third...) time.
That's no different than private insurance questioning every initial admission. And private insurers most certainly do pay for medically necessary care regardless of whether its a subsequent relapse or a complication.
Relapse and complications following an illness or surgery are frequently unpreventable. Literally MILLIONS of research publications acknowledge that fact. There is no 100% problem free treatment or cure for a serious illness or surgery.
Obamacare SCREWS Medicare seniors who are so unfortunate as to have an unpreventable subsequent condition.
And if Obama's goal is cost-cutting, why aren't the same limits imposed on Medicaid readmissions? Why does Obamacare target only Medicare seniors for limits and restrictions on needed medical care?
Fining a hospital for Medicare readmissions will cut off access to readmissions for Medicare patients.
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As was noted in one of the links up-thread, this is not a stand-alone effort. Providers and caregivers do recognize that there is a great need to coordinate care so that patients do get and take their meds, have in-home care if needed, etc. and the goal again is to shift some of the funds that are now being paid to hospitals for re-admissions to that follow-up care. Surely even you can acknowledge that there are gaps in care that need to be filled and that simply trucking people back and forth to hospital is not the best and most healthful solution.
Then why aren't the same penalties, limits, and restrictions applied to Medicaid patients? Federal tax dollars pay for 50% of Medicaid.
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Just cannot for the life of me understand why any and every change to the status quo is automatically bad.
It's bad when it targets only a certain demographic who has already paid for years to receive medical care after retirement.
Target Medicaid. Medicaid recipients aren't required to pay anything at all for the medical benefits they receive, unlike Medicare seniors.
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