Obamacare Ends Construction of 45 Hospitals

from theblogprof by The blogprof


Obamacare Ends Construction of 45 Hospitals: "I will once again post this reminder of when Nancy Pelosi - until now the simultaneous holder of the dual titles of Speaker of the House as well as Dimmest Bulb of the House - said that "we need to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it":

We keep finding out and it's all bad. From the Weekly Standard via Instapundit, memeorandum: Obamacare Ends Construction of Doctor-Owned Hospitals

Under the headline, 'Construction Stops at Physician Hospitals,' Politico reports today that 'Physician Hospitals of America says that construction had to stop at 45 hospitals nationwide or they would not be able to bill Medicare for treatments." Stopping construction at doctor-owned hospitals might not seem like the best way to boost the economy or to promote greater access and choice in health care, but that exactly what Obamacare is doing.

Kenneth Artz of the Heartland Institute explains, 'Section 6001 of the health care law effectively bans new physician-owned hospitals (POHs) from starting up, and it keeps existing ones from expanding.' Politico adds, 'Friday [New Year's Eve] marked the last day physician-owned hospitals could get Medicare certification covering their new or expanded hospitals, one of the latest provisions of the reform law to go into effect.'

This little-noticed but particularly egregious aspect of Obamacare is, by all accounts, a concession to the powerful American Hospital Association (AHA), a supporter of Obamacare, which prefers to have its member hospitals operate without competition from hospitals owned by doctors. Dr. Michael Russell, president of Physician Hospitals of America, which has filed suit to try to stop this selective building-ban from going into effect, says, 'There are so many regulations [in Obamacare] and they are so onerous and intrusive that we believe that the section [Section 6001] was deliberately designed so no physician owned hospital could successfully comply.'

That's in addition to this: Hospitals to lose $100 million because of turkey hangovers and technical mistakes in ObamaCare law because nobody read it, but mostly because of technical mistakes in ObamaCare law because nobody read it. Dr Drew's prediction is coming to fruition faster than anyone expected:

Insurance premiums are increasing even faster than they would have if ObamaCare hadn't passed (Connecticut is seeing a 47% increase this year, Boeing is paring back healthcare benefits for its employees, while even the White House admits that seniors will see higher costs and less benefits. Hospitals in Indiana are laying off staff citing ObamaCare. Also, there was this: CNN: Cost of your health plan to rise 14%, the opposite of what Obama promised in runup to ObamaCare), and Obama's minions are threatening insurance companies with bankruptcy for even hinting that ObamaCare is the cause (it is). Local cities like Mount Clemens MI are about to go bankrupt because of the increased cost of ObamaCare. That's in spite of the fact that Democrats have abandoned the claim that ObamaCare will reduce cost and deficit. Detroit area health insurance to jump 8.9% in 2011 due to ObamaCare. Texas is considering seceding from Medicaid entirely so they don't go into the red. The Obama regime via the FDA is deep-sixing miracle cancer drugs that extend life because they cost too much (ObamaCare begins early: FDA may pull Avastin approval OVER COST CONCERNS). Insurance companies are being forced to cut coverage plans, the law is creating a huge doctor shortage, is cutting Medicare reimbursement rates thus removing doctors from the system via attrition, and to boot even the CBO admits that it discourages work. Every time socialized medicine has been tried, it's been a proven failure. ObamaCare is no different except that it can still be repealed before it's too late.The fact that a federal judge deemed it unconstitutional is a good start:

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