Because of the "unintended consequences" of the Massachusetts plan, costs continue to skyrocket.
Hence, the 4/15/2011 Washington Post notes, "Massachusetts, pioneer of universal health care, now may try new approach to costs".
But regardless of whether you call it "Accountable Care" or "bundled payments" or "integrated care", it all amounts to the same thing -- the government will mandate payment systems that reward limiting care to patients. Just don't call it rationing.
Of course, many doctors naturally recoil at the thought of such government pressures dictating how they are allowed to practice. The 4/17/2011 Boston Globe thus reports, "More doctors gravitate toward boutique practice".
And as more doctors opt out of the more heavily regulated sector of medicine, it will merely make the problems worse for those who remain. If these trends continue, cconomist Mark Perry predicts a coming doctor shortage -- not just in Massachusetts, but eventually in the rest of the country.
As always, under "universal health care" people will have theoretical "coverage". They just won't be able to get actual medical care.
The blog of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM)
