SAN DIEGO, CA -- In supporting the Bachman couple in their lawsuit against the individual mandate component of the 'Affordable Care Act' health care reform law, Judge Conner advanced the multi-suit, multi-state plaintiffs' claim that dangers lurk ahead for the nation if 'Obamacare' remains intact. In rejecting the 'Act' as unconstitutional, the Court writes "The power to regulate interstate commerce does not subsume the power to dictate a lifetime financial commitment to health insurance coverage."
If the PPACA law remains untouched, the damage to society and the doctor-patient relationship, however, go far beyond the scope of the technical rulings of the federal court. "Even if the 'Act' is ruled unconstitutional or repealed, it is clear that health insurance reform will survive in some form, and understandably so," says Doctor Adam Dorin, Founder and CEO of America's Medical Society. "But how we do this is the trillion dollar question," Dorin adds. "We can improve lives or devastate them for generations to come. We must choose wisely."
"The biggest overall concern in health care reform," Dorin notes, "is that medical benefits are confusing, misleading, and, frankly, not something to be taken at face value when presented to us by career bureaucrats." Doctor Dorin seems especially concerned with the indifference of many physician organizations to confront the real threats to patient care in the long run.
The last two years has seen a polarization of political 'visions' within the physician community, as Dorin sees it. His concern is that both the political 'left' and 'right' are using health care reform to advance ideologies that have nothing to do with medical care. As Doctor Dorin puts it, "you have entities which purport to work for quality and safety in health care, but which actually focus more on self interests such as revenue, political connections, and elections."
The new health care reform law really boils down to 'insurance benefits' for patients and their families, as Doctor Dorin explains. The term "essential benefits" is actually used in the 'Affordable Care Act' legislation, and is put there for a reason. The purpose was to define, circumscribe, design, and limit the services which patients can access in medical facilities. The new law seeks to create parameters for the payment of medical services-specifically, what percentage patients will pay, under what circumstances, and up to what limit. These details may seem tedious at first glance, but these are the very details which determine whether treatment and pharmaceutical options are realistically available to health care consumers.
An honest examination of health care reform law must shed light on the actual services and medications allowed under any given health care plan. If co-payments and co-insurances are structured to minimize patient consumption of goods, it doesn't matter how good the law sounds because choice, quality, and positive outcomes will be severly limited and diminished.
Doctor Dorin further explains: "If the purpose of the new health care law is to restrict care, ration services, and deceive consumers with classic bait and switch tactics, then we should not be arguing at all about the merits of the law itself, but rather about the implementation of socialized medicine in the United States. If, on the other hand, the proponents of this law are serious champions of maintaining the superior nature of American medical care, we must give ample time and debate to assess the myriad of rules within its 2,700 pages-some of which are specifically designed to micro-manage patient choice."
In assessing the bigger picture of health care reform in America, Dorin exhorts all Americans to be skeptical of the underlying motivations of 'public interest groups' and 'trade organizations': "Patients and doctors should be wary of medical and political groups which put on a good show, but ultimately seem to spend most of their time having lunches with government officials and pushing agendas that have nothing to do with medicine and patients."
"Yes," says Dorin, "the Affordable Care Act is not constitutional, but even more egregiously it is a dangerous trap that will limit patient and physician autonomy, and harm the health of Americans."
More can be learned at www.AmericasMedicalSociety.com.
