Seniors, congratulations on living to a ripe old age. You worked hard all your life. Now, you are retired and enjoying your “Golden Years.” But, beware, your Golden Years may become tarnished by the “Mortality Index.”
Never heard of the MI? You will. It is another unintended consequence of Obamacare, like higher insurance premiums, fewer doctors and lower quality healthcare for the 80% of us that already had medical insurance before the advent of Obamacare.
In a nutshell, the MI is a measurement of a person’s likelihood of dying within a certain period of time based on various factors. The index ascribes points to various factors, such as age, gender, physical condition, other chronic illnesses, etc. If the resultant number is too high, some government or medical provider bureaucrat, not a medical professional, not you, may decide that treatment for what ails you is not practical. Therefore, treatment would not be covered. For most people, no insurance coverage means no treatment. In essence, they are deciding that one person’s life is worth more than another’s. That’s right. If two people need the same procedure and person A is, say, 50 years old and in good physical condition, and person B, for example, is 80, overweight and a diabetic, it could be “Syonara” for person B.
If this sounds like a plot for a Stephen King novel, you should know that the MI is already in use, although not for the above purpose. Doctors can use it to measure a patient’s health risk and advise him or her accordingly. In addition, I believe insurance companies are using a version of it to decide whether or not to issue a person a life insurance policy and, if so, to calculate the premiums.
CONCLUSION AND PREDICTION
As we all know, health care is expensive and getting more expensive every day. In addition, there is a finite amount of money and resources. The population is aging, and people are living longer. Elderly people use a disproportionate share of health care resources. Most experts predict that there will be fewer doctors as the medical profession becomes less attractive for various reasons (which merits a separate blog). A large majority of doctors will soon be employees of health care providers rather than proprietors, thus losing some of their independence. If you combine all these factors the future of healthcare, in general, and for the elderly, in particular looks bleak.
Higher premiums, fewer doctors, lower quality care, and now the death panel. Anybody still think Obamacare was a good idea? Thank you Mr. Obama and Justice Roberts.
We Built It Blog by Larry Jacob 