Medicare Rationing Begins

The manifest error of Obamacare unintended consequences continue. Rationing is being implemented by market forces.

From The Washington Post:

Want an appointment with kidney specialist Adam Weinstein of Easton, Md.? If you’re a senior covered by Medicare, the wait is eight weeks.

How about a checkup from geriatric specialist Michael Trahos? Expect to see him every six months: The Alexandria-based doctor has been limiting most of his Medicare patients to twice yearly rather than the quarterly checkups he considers ideal for the elderly. Still, at least he’ll see you. Top-ranked primary care doctor Linda Yau is one of three physicians with the District’s Foxhall Internists group who recently announced they will no longer be accepting Medicare patients.

“It’s not easy. But you realize you either do this or you don’t stay in business,” she said.

TSA Fail: Longest Security Line Ever (video)

500 feet going in two different directions at Chicago O'hare airport on November 16, 2010. These new security procedures are causing nightmares for fliers and it isn't even National Opt-Out Day yet.


Airport Security TSA - Longest line ever

AP discovers the obvious: Health overhaul may mean longer ER wait

Isn't this what critics have been saying all along? Where was AP when Congress was debating Obamacare? Oh, they were still shilling for Obamacare as late as June.

AP finally reported:

That might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding. It would seem these patients would be able to get routine health care by visiting a doctor's office, as most of the insured do.

But it's not that simple. Consider:

_There's already a shortage of front-line family physicians in some places and experts think that will get worse.

_People without insurance aren't the ones filling up the nation's emergency rooms. Far from it. The uninsured are no more likely to use ERs than people with private insurance, perhaps because they're wary of huge bills.

_The biggest users of emergency rooms by far are Medicaid recipients....

Rand Corp. researcher Dr. Arthur L. Kellermann predicts this from the new law: "More people will have coverage and will be less afraid to go to the emergency department ...