Who will protect us from the “health advocates”?

I loved reading about what I hope is a growing trend — an apparently easy and relatively painless way to work around Obamacare:

WICHITA, Kan., June 14 (UPI) — A Kansas physician says he makes the same income and offers better quality care to his patients after he dumped all health insurance companies.

Thirty-two-year old family physician Doug Nunamaker of Wichita, Kan., said after five years of dealing with the red tape of health insurance companies and the high overhead for the staff he hired just to deal with paperwork, he switched to a system of charging his patients a monthly fee plus the price of an office visit or test, CNN/Money reported.

For example, under Nunamaker’s membership plan — also known as “concierge” medicine or “direct primary care” practices — each patient pays a flat monthly fee to have unlimited access to the doctors and any medical service they can provide in the practice, such as stitches or an EKG.

For adults up to age 44, Nunamaker charges $50 a month, pediatric services are $10 a month, and for adults age 44 and older it costs $100 a month. Although Nunamaker calls the practice “cash-only,” he accepts credit and debit cards for the fees and services.

Great deal for all concerned.

Except I do have one question. Is it legal?

Does anyone know? I mean, what we call “Obamacare” takes the form of a law passed by Congress, signed by the President, and upheld by the Supreme Court, even though very few of the people involved ever read through its 2000 pages.

Any law that is 2000 pages long worries me, because of the way the legal system works. If we consider that the IRS is charged with enforcement of Obamacare, and they are now training with AR-15s, shouldn’t someone out there actually know what is in that law?

Assuming that there is nothing buried anywhere in the thousands of pages of regulations that makes this illegal, I wonder how long it will take the Marxist busybodies to demand that “something” be “done.”

As this CNN piece warns,

Fed up with declining payments and rising red tape, a small but growing number of doctors is opting out of the insurance system completely. They’re expecting patients to pony up with cash.

Some doctors who have gone that route love it, saying they can spend more time with and provide higher-quality care to their patients. Health advocates are skeptical, worrying that only the wealthy will benefit from this system.

I don’t know exactly what a “health advocate” is, but I wouldn’t trust them with my health.

The idea — what is called “concierge care” — is spreading by leaps and bounds among doctors:

There are 4,400 concierge doctors in the U.S., 30 percent more than there were last year, according to the American Academy of Private Physicians, their professional association. “This is all doctors want to talk about,” says Jeff Goldsmith, a health-care industry analyst and trend spotter. “?‘I want to go off the grid. I’m done billing Blue Cross. I can’t deal with this anymore. It’s destroying my life and my relationship with my patients.’?”

But hold on! The “health advocates” are upset:

Others worry that the growth of concierge medicine will mean the affluent receive high-quality care while the rest of the country struggles to be seen by fewer and fewer doctors. “It is a step towards a two-tiered health-care system: a system where the rich get first-choice care and the not-so-rich get second-choice care,” says Kathleen Stoll, deputy executive director of Families USA, a health-care consumer advocacy group.

Another example of uncritical reporting. While Families USA claims to be a consumer advocacy group, it actually is a lobbying organization for Obamacare and appears to be an SEIU front group:

Families USA also took in over $8,000,000 that year, and over $10,000,000 the year prior.  That’s some serious fundraising for an organization that lacks an event coordinator and warehouse of cocktail napkins.

Who funds them, and who builds up their assets to such a large degree?

We aren’t allowed to know, but we can guess. Let’s take a look at their board of directors, and who do we see on it, but Mary Kay Henry, the new president of SEIU.

Fascinating.

So let me get this straight. An organization whose board of directors includes the SEIU president and whose funding is not know, but substantial, is out pushing healthcare stories to gullible newspapers through a sophisticated media strategy.  This group gets favorable media attention, but no one reporter ever stops to ask how they are funded, who they are allied with, or just what exactly $45 million will buy?

After reading that, there is not a doubt in my mind that these union hacks simply want to dictate policy.

Mark my words, if they have their way, they will make it a crime for patients to see doctors for cash.

Will the Republicans stop them? Like M. Simon, I’m feeling skeptical.


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9 responses to “Who will protect us from the “health advocates”?”

  1. Bob Thompson Avatar
    Bob Thompson

    Someone will read through the statute that is called ‘Obamacare” and tell us where this may run afoul. I’m on Medicare and have supplementary insurance coverage, and my recall is that medical practitioners who accept payments such as these under a ‘concierge plan’ from Medicare eligible patients, become ineligible for any Medicare participation. The reason I recall is I must have wanted to pay directly for something and was told I could not. I like what these doctors are doing, and the one thing it looks like is that people who take advantage of such a service and do not have an ‘Obamacare’ approved health insurance plan, will have to pay the annual penalty tax levied by the IRS.

    It seems to me that an approach like this could work very well for many when used in conjunction with Health Savings Plans (if they still exists) and catastrophic insurance coverage for the really big stuff the a family physician could not handle.

  2. lelnet Avatar
    lelnet

    It’s already going to be a crime for those doctors to provide any treatment or service that isn’t approved by IPAB. Other than the reduction of waiting lists, one wonders what the point is going to be of seeing one.

    If you need any drugs that aren’t the cheapest possible solution to whatever your problem is, best stockpile them now…giving you any more of them is going to be a felony starting in less than 7 months.

  3. Bob Thompson Avatar
    Bob Thompson

    Has somebody decided that there is something inherently evil about a two-tier system? Just pretend that everyone who selects ‘concierge’ plans for their coverage simply made a decision to opt out of an “Obamacare’ plan and pay the tax penalty instead. Is this not an available and legitimate option?

  4. Kathy Kinsley Avatar
    Kathy Kinsley

    @ Bob – one may hope. We’d take that – I’d take that. I suspect, however, that unless the libertarian groups like the original tea party (note the SMALL l – overseas ostriches don’t appeal) get their act in gear, both of the parties will vote against anything that does not bow down to government power.

    Because, you may disagree with Republicans or Democrats as you like – but they BOTH want more power somewhere. Come over to the independent side, baby. WE swing elections. Vote your conscience, not your party.

  5. Rob Crawford Avatar
    Rob Crawford

    If there’s a law against it, then the law is unconstitutional under the 13th Amendment.

    And, Kathy, you might want to consider what can be accomplished by working with other people.

  6. Kathy Kinsley Avatar
    Kathy Kinsley

    Umm. Yes. Independents DO work with other people. We talk to both sides (and all the other sides.)

    Not sure what your point is, unless you want us to immediately agree with all your side has to offer. In which case, we’ll think about it.

  7. […] Who will protect us from the "health advocates"? […]

  8. […] I’m glad there are still some doctors who opt out. […]