Like our pension system, Medicare, Social Security and even Medical, the new healthcare bill is unsustainable. There is simply not enough income made in this country to tax it into existence. The only possible way to begin to pay for it would be massive cuts in the quality of health care. Rationing, poor quality and eventual death panels will replace what has been a health care system that was the envy of the world.
Obama himself admits that Medicare will reduce payments to physicians by 21%. A recent survey in the New England Journal of Medicine states that 45% of physicians are considering leaving the profession. Anecdotally, I can tell you that the hospital I work for is filled with Doctors and Nurses from Canada; fleeing the poor pay, abominable conditions and poor patient outcomes brought about by their failing system.
As for the cost of this program….no one really knows. CNN has it as low as $850 billion, with some Senators saying it may cost several trillion dollars. Having been a hospital administrator I’m putting my bet that the new healthcare bill sets new benchmarks for unstainability; which makes me wonder what happens to a society that really looses the ability to sustain itself?