Health Care is Very Affordable?
So there is a new nominee for douche of the year. The Boston Globe just put out an article entitled Partners’ CEO says health care in state is “very affordable” and it will make you cringe. Dr. David Torchiana is the head of the state’s largest and most expensive network of doctors and hospitals and he said that health care is “very affordable” in Massachusetts. He states this even though health care costs are higher in Mass than in other parts of the country. He cites figures from The Commonwealth Fund (left leaning pro Obamacare group), which found that health insurance premiums represent 18 percent of median household income in Massachusetts, but 21 percent of income for households across the United States.
- First of all, 18 to 21% of income going to pay for healthcare is outrageous! Either one. Trust me, the doctors and nurses in the trenches aren’t getting this and they are doing 99% of the work. Maybe other cardiac surgeons like Torchiana are.
- Second, Dr. Douchebag only says Mass is affordable because it is less than some other states.
- Third, Partners “charges more than its competitors for similar care. Attorney General Maura Healey has said this market “dysfunction” is pushing medical spending higher across the state.”
- Fourth, Torchiana, was a heart surgeon and longtime executive at Massachusetts General Hospital before becoming chief executive of Partners. This dude is so out of touch of what real people make and can survive on it’s a joke.
Torch, as this doc likes to be called, has no clue what the common man or woman has to go through. They are bleeding money to pay for high deductible plans that suck. When they go to the doctor at Partners, for example, the bills are probably astronomical and not covered until that deductibles are met. This gouging is disgusting and he is clueless about their pain. It is making people NOT go to their doctors because they cannot afford any more than the insurance they are paying. Torch says that “I’ve always been prickly about criticism but it feels personal now.” Really, Torch? Then don’t say stupid shit like healthcare is very affordable.
Massachusetts median family income is 70,000 due to all the federal jobs and healthcare jobs.
US average is 51000. 18% of 7k is much higher than 20% of 51k.
Boston is inflated by federal spending
“Partners has taken steps to control costs by embracing new insurance payments that encourage doctors to reduce unnecessary hospital visits and procedures.”
Doug, your characterization is simply wrong. Calling this guy a douche is an insult to simple-minded, innocent douches everywhere. Why are we supposed to care about this guy’s snow-filled apartment story – does claiming to have paid some dues decades ago justify screwing the public, and then arrogantly denying it?
This jerk is welcome to his legal rewards, but his comments forfeit any moral standing his (first) profession might once have suggested.
The other jerks in this story are the advocacy groups and consumers themselves, who first supported RomneyCare, and later ObamaCare. They are the ones who put this crony corporatist into power, and others like him. So I’m not sure what they’re complaining about.
It is really frustrating to read these type of statements from a fellow physician like Dr. Torch. The only people that the ACA has made health care more affordable is the people that the government is subsidizing. For the average Joe to pay 20% of his income for health care is not sustainable, and for many that 20% is buying crappy high-deductible insurance.
When people beg you NOT to send them to the ER with chest pain, out of fear of going broke, it’s hard to say that ol’ Ted Kennedy’s views on mandatory catastrophic insurance have been reached – or that the system now in place fits any dream of decency.
PS: Massachusetts has had “Obamacare” for at least a half-dozen years BEFORE it hit the rest of the country. They’re just better at denying care to those who need it – that’s a lesson of experience. We’ll all see some cost reductions. And dead guys in our parking lot. It’s a tradeoff.
Healthcare is very affordable? This guy lives on the same planet all the other ACA supporters live on: Obamaland.