ObamaCare, or the Affordable Care Act, will bring 50 million new people into the Medicaid program, but who will pay for this and who will take care of them? Most MDs cannot afford to treat patients in Medicaid because reimbusement for services is far too low. The quality of care will drop and access to care will take time to take effect.
We're moving towards socialized medicine where MDs will work for the government and the standards of care are likely to be more fixed and less effective. How can you massively increase the patient population, decrease funding, and expect to provide superior care?
Yet ObamaCare will be a big plus for the poor as it will provide health care that for the most part they are not getting now. So, access to care should increase. Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage for pre-existing health conditions, there will be no increase of cost for insurance because of aging or for people with chronic diseases, there will be no annual or lifetime financial limits, and recission will be illegal.
There will be some expansion for preventive services. Of course, until we shift from disease care to health care, our financial challenges and the amount of chronic diseases will continue to skyrocket.
