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February 5, 2009
Obama’s Stimulus Plan Falls Short on Healthcare
Joseph Heyman, MD Chair of the AMA board of Trustees recently released a commentary regarding healthcare reform under the new administration. The stimulus bill provides for expansion of medicaid, aid to those recently unemployed (expanded gap insurance or COBRA assistance) and increased medicare reimbursements. Consistent with the glitz and media hype of the administration, there’s also money allocated for healthcare IT (eg: presumably subsidies for electronic medical records).
The provisions contained in the bill are likely to change very little considering there is no suggestion of changing the actual system of how healthcare is administered. The age cut-off for medicare is 65, and only those who have actually had a position that offers employer-sponsored health insurance (and then lost it) are eligible for COBRA. Medicaid traditionally has been difficult for people to obtain, unless they are nearly destitute. So what about Joe the plumber? He makes too much for medicaid isn’t quite medicare age…and is still underinsured if employed/ or unemployed. It seems healthcare reform is an afterthought in the Obama administration, this is concerning given our current healthcare system’s contribution to the economic down-turn. Perhaps Obama should review how much of the GNP in this country is spent on healthcare.
References: Amednews.com “Physicians need one voice to fight for payment reform”
Robin Stone, M.D.
www.insight-psychiatry.com
13123 Rosedale Hill Ave.
Huntersville, NC 28078
704-948-3810
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