He continues to call it "bad policy" and claims that it "hurts far more people than it helps," but gone is the call for its repeal. Here is how he explains his view now, emphasis added:
"'Obamacare' is a bad policy that hurts far more people than it helps and represents the much bigger problem of overregulation and government intrusion into the lives of US citizens. Companies right here in the 6th district like LabCorp have shown that we can deliver health care services in a cost-efficient manner without getting in-between (sic) you and your doctor."Aside from the fact that Obamacare is primarily just a means to enroll more people in private health insurance—hardly the "gov'ment" getting between you and your doctor— the News & Record revealed today that LabCorp is the largest single recipient of Medicare payments in the state of North Carolina.
That's right, Zack's example of an alternative to Obamacre thrives because it receives more Medicare payments from the government than any other doctor, practice, hospital or health care provider in the state.
I guess Zack didn't look into that.
I filed a FOIA request in 1991 to the former Health Care Financing Administration, seeking information on Medicare payments to doctors, hospitals and other medical facilities in the News & Record coverage area. I never got an official approval or denial of my request, but I kept nudging DHHS every few years until I left the N&R 18 years later. In the figures published today, I saw that the suspicion by my then-editor that had prompted my original FOIA request was no longer true, if it ever was. So at least I got an answer of sorts.
ReplyDeleteDon't be coy, what was the suspicion?
ReplyDeleteThe data comes from a voluntary release by the Obama administration of all Medicare payments -- a first.
That a particular local medical entity was racking up millions in Medicare by providing certain unneeded services. Without going into detail about how or why, I'll simply say that the info that was released showed that that is very much not true today. Can't say what the sitch was in 1991, of course.
ReplyDelete