…Republican Chairman Fred Upton should preempt one of them.

Ain’t government medicine great? Of course, it ain’t.

Obamacare…is an unmitigated disaster. Insurance premiums have exploded. On average, 41% in 2014. Another 24% in 2015. Couldn’t find specific, general numbers in 2016 – but they were again double digit increases. And 2017 is looking another 30%+ awful. Deductibles have also increased dramatically. And despite the fact that people are mandated by law to sign up – sign-ups are way short.

Medicare…is an unmitigated disaster. In 2012, the program faced $38.6 TRILLION in future liabilities – for which it does not have the money. In these last four years, do you think that gigantic problem has gotten better – or worse?

This titanic economic shortfall is even more ridiculous – considering it’s getting harder and harder to find any health care providers who will see Medicare patients. For decades, more and more providers have started refusing to see them. Because Medicare doesn’t pay in anywhere near a timely fashion – and it absolutely does not pay anywhere near enough.

Medicare needs to be completely privatized. But this is DC, so that won’t happen. Short of that, it needs drastic, dramatic reform. But this is DC, so…. In the meantime, attempting to squeeze more blood from provider stones is not even close to a solution. At this point, you’ve already wrung-beyond-hope any conceivable savings out of our depleted, diminishing Medicare provider force.

Medicare is a massive, multi-faceted government failure. Yet again taking it out of the hide of the private sector doesn’t solve anything.

So why is this about to happen?

As Homecare Industry Confronts Medicare Cuts, Upton May Be Roadblock to Fix: “Medical suppliers are confronting devastating cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates, but despite bicameral and bipartisan efforts in Congress to delay the cuts, it remains unclear whether legislation will pass in the upcoming lame duck session.”

More cuts to Medicare providers. That’ll help with Medicare provider retention. And…

Wait – did someone say “bipartisan?” At this point, that is a DC unicorn. Actually, it’s the DC offspring of a unicorn and a pegasus. So what’s the problem? “Sources on Capitol Hill tell InsideSources that outgoing House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., is the chief roadblock to passing a bill….Upton’s office did not respond to a request for comment.”

If Chairman Upton had a great explanation for this – you would think he would be actively seeking an opportunity to proffer it.

It could be something as innocuous as “The lame duck session is tight – and we haven’t yet tried to find room for this.”

If that’s all it is – they should absolutely make room.

If it’s something else – we would really like to know what and why.

Because yet again crushing the private sector to make up for government uber-failures – is not what we normally look for in Republican Committee Chairman.