"Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Insurers’ government-backed health plans for the elderly have increased taxpayer costs with no evidence of improved care, according to research backing President-elect Barack Obama’s call to lower U.S. subsidies.
Many of the Medicare Advantage plans, as they are called, don’t coordinate care to avoid duplication and ensure the best results, authors said in articles posted today on the Web site of Health Affairs. The plans were devised to offer more benefits than conventional Medicare paid directly by the U.S. government."
What this article talks about is medicare HMO's -- something that was started years ago to manage costs by adding another layer of administration on top of the medical cake -- sort of like a thick frosting of goo. They were supposed to eliminate waste, bring market forces to the irrational and unavoidable, and to use economies of scale to lower costs.
What they have done -- and what anyone who has ever had a HMO knows, is act as a jelly to keep sperm away from the money egg.
And is is very clear who the nasty sperm have always been.
HMO's have departments to limit coverage, deny care through peer reveiw with Uncle Tom physicians, increase co-pays, turn pharmacies into money making operations, and whole departments to review and cherry pick through govenrment regulations to milk every single dollar they can before it goes to actual patient care.
Through lobby efforts, bribes, intelectual dishonesty, they have arranged a cash cow to pad their pockets through the symbolic sacrifice of the holy grail of human life. They are parasites that bring nothing to the system but extra costs and declining medical standards.
Another free market success.
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