Remember, Obmacare will "Reduce" the Defecit

[IWS]

Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health modelBy Claire Sibonney - Analysis Claire Sibonney - Analysis – Mon May 31, 2:38 pm ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate "incentive fees" to generic drug manufacturers.

British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.

And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.

It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036.

"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.

"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.

"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."

MIRROR IMAGE DEBATE

In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States.

Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.

http://news.yahoo.co..._nm/us_health_3

 

[RaE]

Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health modelBy Claire Sibonney - Analysis Claire Sibonney - Analysis – Mon May 31, 2:38 pm ET

TORONTO (Reuters) – Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system.

Ontario, Canada's most populous province, kicked off a fierce battle with drug companies and pharmacies when it said earlier this year it would halve generic drug prices and eliminate "incentive fees" to generic drug manufacturers.

British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee.

And a few provinces are also experimenting with private funding for procedures such as hip, knee and cataract surgery.

It's likely just a start as the provinces, responsible for delivering healthcare, cope with the demands of a retiring baby-boom generation. Official figures show that senior citizens will make up 25 percent of the population by 2036.

"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.

"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.

"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."

MIRROR IMAGE DEBATE

In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States.

Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.

http://news.yahoo.co..._nm/us_health_3

imagine that...

 

[eddo]

Remember, Obmacare will "Reduce" the Defecit *and monkeys may fly out of my arse*

negative rep for making me read the word "arse"...

 

[IWS]

Nationalized Health Care Hell: UK to Cut Millions of Operations to Control Costs – Seniors Hardest Hit Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, June 5, 2010, 4:29 PM Thanks Barack… Thanks Pelosi… Thanks Dems…

THANKS CHI...

death panels[/b].Great Britain is looking to cut billions from their broken nationalized health care system by cutting millions of operations. Of course, the elderly will be hardest hit.

The Daily Mail reported:

Millions of patients face losing NHS care as bosses prepare to axe treatments to make £20billion of savings by 2014, a top doctor has warned.
Among procedures being targeted by health trusts are hernias, joint replacements, ear and nose procedures, varicose veins and cataract surgery.
Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association’s consultants committee, warned NHS bosses wanted ‘wholesale reductions in budgets’.
He said primary care trusts – which commission care – are already compiling lists of ‘low value’ operations that would no longer be provided.
These include hip replacements for obese patients and some operations for hernias and gallstones. Procedures for varicose veins, ear and nose problems including grommets in children are also not funded in some areas.
Dr Porter said it was wrong to impose blanket bans on such procedures when some patients might benefit.
The Blog Prof has posted Dr. Ezekial’s death panel chart that explains how the elderly will be hardest hit.

http://gatewaypundit...rs-hardest-hit/

 

[IWS]

In his weekly radio address, Barack Obama proudly proclaimed that a new report by the Medicare trustees shows that the president's healthcare policies have added another 12 years of financial security to the system.Which would be great, if the report was accurate.

But neither the president nor the mainstream media has mentioned that the trustees report was required to use the unrealistic financial assumptions contained in the Obamacare bill (such as payments to doctors going down 30% over the next 3 years with no ill effects to either doctors or patients). In other words, if Obamacare had contained language stipulating that doctors would make housecalls on flying pigs, the trustees report would have to describe the expected success of airborne porkers filling the skies.

Which is why Medicare's Chief Actuary labeled the report "unreasonable" and "implausible," and issued an "Illustrative Alternative" report on what the trustees think will really happen when Obamacare takes effect: tremendous spending cuts, a loss of services for senior citizens, doctors leaving the system, and many hospitals going out of business.

In fact, under Obamacare as written, 25% of medical facilities are predicted to disappear by 2030, and 40% will be gone by 2050. Which may be just as well since there won't be doctors to staff them.

It just goes to show that not every "second opinion" is going to be good news.

But if it's the truth, it's the only opinion that really counts.