奧巴馬醫療改革的背後交易

昨天我說在PELOSI　BILL裏民主黨跟美國老百姓玩字眼遊戲，不提禁止非法移民獲得政府保險的條款，也拒絕GOP對此的修正案的討論，想蒙混過關。一部進2000頁的提案，裏麵說了什麽，怎麽說的，老百姓基本上是一頭霧水。

今天，我們來看看奧巴馬跟華盛頓利益集團的幕後交易。

為了推行他的政府保險計劃，奧巴馬告訴美國的老百姓，他的計劃得到了美國退休人員協會AAAP和美國醫療協會AMO的支持。但他沒有高速美國老百姓，這兩個組織為什麽會支持他，為什麽不提美國醫藥界也支持他的計劃，為什麽美國醫療器械反對他，為什麽保險業一開始支持他而現在又反對他了？

原來這裏有背後的交易，具體如下：

1. The American Medical Association (AMA) was facing a 21 percent cut in physicians' reimbursements under the current law. Obama promised to kill the cut if they backed his bill. The cuts are the fruit of a law requiring annual 5 percent to 6 percent reductions in doctor reimbursements for treating Medicare patients. Bravely, each year Congress has rolled the cuts over, suspending them but not repealing them. So each year, the accumulated cuts threaten doctors. By now, they have risen to 21 percent. With this blackmail leverage, Obama compelled the AMA to support his bill...or else!

2. The AARP got a financial windfall in return for its support of the healthcare bill. Over the past decade, the AARP has morphed from an advocacy group to an insurance company (through its subsidiary company). It is one of the main suppliers of Medi-gap insurance, a high-cost, privately purchased coverage that picks up where Medicare leaves off. But President Bush-43 passed the Medicare Advantage program, which offered a subsidized, lower-cost alternative to Medi-gap. Under Medicare Advantage, the elderly get all the extra coverage they need plus coordinated, well-managed care, usually by the same physician. So more than 10 million seniors went with Medicare Advantage, cutting into AARP Medi-gap revenues.

3.The drug industry backed ObamaCare and, in return, got a 10-year limit of $80 billion on cuts in prescription drug costs. (A drop in the bucket of their almost $3 trillion projected cost over the next decade.) They also got administration assurances that it will continue to bar lower-cost Canadian drugs from coming into the U.S. All it had to do was put its formidable advertising budget at the disposal of the administration.

4. Insurance companies got access to 40 million potential new customers. But when the Senate Finance Committee lowered the fine that would be imposed on those who don't buy insurance from $3,500 to $1,500, the insurance companies jumped ship and now oppose the bill, albeit for the worst of motives.

The only industry that refused to knuckle under was the medical device makers. They stood for principle and wouldn't go along with Obama's blackmail. So the Senate Finance Committee retaliated by imposing a tax on medical devices such as automated wheelchairs, pacemakers, arterial stents, prosthetic limbs, artificial knees and hips and other necessary accoutrements of healthcare.

明白了吧，老百姓的利益就是這麽被出賣的。