Factions disagree on path to better care
For the first time since its passage, a poll in June showed majority support -- 51 percent -- favor Obamacare. It was another piece of bad news for
In very generalized terms, the federal government seems to have two options: further socialization of medicine, or finding a way to keep the health care field private while holding down costs.
A "single payer" system might be incrementally installed within a few years, but would almost certainly mean higher taxes for all income levels, combined with further deficit spending. Keeping privatized medicine might be possible with less expense to the taxpayer, but the expense of private health care took decades to become unsustainable, and might take decades to stop or reverse.
Dr.
"We have 340B pharmacy contracts to reduce prices, bill on a sliding scale based on income, and routinely serve uninsured patients at NeoHealth," Gibson said. "Why not 340B sliding-scale hospitals?"
Wilson believes there are many misconceptions among the public and politicians about Medicaid, and he doesn't understand the hostility toward subsidized health coverage -- when virtually everyone is already subsidized in some way.
"There are two significant programs used to generate matching dollars to increase federal Medicaid contributions," Wilson said. "Private nursing homes and Intermediate Care Facilities for the Intellectually Disabled pay a daily per-bed fee, which is matched with federal Medicaid money. The other program is similar in that hospitals pay a fee through the Supplemental Hospital Offset Payment Program to use as match for Medicaid dollars. For 2017, hospitals will pay SHOPP assessments of
Other agencies contributing matching dollars to secure Medicaid funding include the
"Thirty percent of
Wilson said a million Oklahomans -- 25 percent of the population -- were enrolled in Medicaid for all or part of fiscal 2014.
"Two-thirds of nursing home residents are members of Medicaid in
But while some believe the government should do more, keep doing what it is doing, or do something else, there are others who say the government should do less.
"This bill does very little to help with any of the factors that have caused our health care cost problems," said Dr.
Though
"Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, 80 rural hospitals have closed nationwide, emergency room visits have increased, and billions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on the ACA's failed co-ops and website," Mullin told the
"We were assured that Obamacare would be repealed and replaced ASAP when the
Several sources were asked for comment for the series on the
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