Betsy McCaughey - Scientific Evidence Proves Obamacare Will Harm Seniors

Betsy McCaughey is the Chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, the former Lt. Governor of New York, and author of the book, "Obama Health Law." On September 21st she gave a speech at Accuracy in Media's "ObamaNation: A Day of Truth" conference proving with hard facts how the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will inevitably harm America's seniors.

"In just a few days, October 2012, the Obama administration will start awarding “bonus points” to the hospitals that spend the least per senior. Oh, yes! Section 3001 of this law, for the first time, creates a new “quality measure for Medicare.” It measures spending per Medicare beneficiary, and awards the bonus points to the hospitals that spend the least per senior! And it whacks the higher spending hospitals with demerits, not only for what they spend on a patient while the patient is in the hospital, but also what is spent on that patient for the three months after hospitalization.

So hospitals also get hit with demerits for recommending physical therapy after the patient leaves the hospital, or even recommending a doctor’s visit; it’s all counted. These regulations are not going to wring out the fraud, waste, and abuse. No, they are going to force these hospitals to provide a lower standard of care: Nurses spread thinner, less cleaning of rooms, waits for MRIs, less physical therapy, and most significantly, higher death rates.

History proves it’s true: In 1997, when the Balanced Budget Act cut Medicare payments to hospitals, the hospitals that were clobbered with the biggest cuts eventually saw that the death rates for their heart attack patients were 6% to 8% higher than at the hospitals that weren’t hit with the big cuts. Research published in March of 2011—certainly available to the Obama administration—research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a preeminent group, shows why the death rates were higher: The hospitals that were hit with the payment cuts laid off nurses."
Betsy McCaughhey

Click HERE to read full transcript.

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