October 7, 2009
As health insurance legislation continues to move through the Democrat-majority Congress, a Wall Street Journal editorial raises an issue which has not been fully debated. The editorial is called "The War on Specialists."
Because specialists cost more to train and thus make more money, Democrats are targeting them as a way to save money and spread the insurance coverage around to people who currently don't have it.
Take a provision in the Senate bill written by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. It would "punish any physician whose ‘resource use' is considered too high. Beginning in 2015, Medicare would rank doctors against their peers based on how much they cost the program - and then automatically cut all payments by 5 percent to anyone who falls into the 90th percentile or above."
Democrats won't impose a cap on malpractice lawsuits, of course. So who suffers? Most specialists could afford a 5 percent pay cut, but can patients afford reduced care? That's the issue. It will lead to rationing and, yes, something like death panels. Count on it.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.
