Medicaid cut payments by 20% back on the first of January this year.

Dr. Laura Bellstrom closed her pediatric practice in St. Albans, Vermont, last week. She’s number four in a county that had 11 pediatricians at the beginning of the year. We have seven now. I know half a dozen of her now-former patients from North Puffin alone.

Yeppers, between ObamaDon’tCare and “expanded” Medicaid, we’ll cover everybody, absolutely.

Oh. wait.

The Guardian reported on the little costs that rack up thanks to what the Unaffordable Care Act doesn’t cover. Family members now have to pay for their own coverage. The co-pay for an asthma inhaler cost $7 before Unaffordable Care Act. “Then it went to $30. Then $60. Now it’s $100, every month.” A friend is fighting the mental fog of Lyme disease. Her insurance won’t pay for a treatment that will get her off Doxycycline therapy.

Kaiser reported that the “family glitch” in the Unaffordable Care Act means many mostly middle-income Americans remain uninsured because they can’t afford their insurance at work but make too much to qualify for the income tax prebate “subsidies.”

Several million did get coverage through the Medicaid program in states that opted to expand it. Now, since Medicaid ain’t paying its bills, look at what happens.

For the record.
Voting for the Unaffordable Care Act in the House: Florida Democrats Corrine Brown, Kathy Castor, Alan Grayson, Alcee Hastings, Ron Klein, Kendrick Meek, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Robert Wexler plus Vermont’s sole representative, Democrat Peter Welch.
Voting for the Unaffordable Care Act in the Senate: Florida Democrat Bill Nelson plus both of Vermont’s senators, Democrat Patrick Leahy and “Independent” Bernard Sanders.

Dr. Laura Bellstrom. Gone. Three other pediatricians. Gone.

6,000 kids in northwestern Vermont lost their docs this year.

Six thousand.

Pediatricians are in the spotlight now, but similar problems face primary care providers for adults, said, Vermont Health Access commissioner Steven Costantino.

Shrinking provider networks under the Unaffordable Care Act mean you not only can’t keep your doctor, you may not find a doctor.

The solution hasn’t changed since the Unaffordable Care Act passed in 2009.

1. Do not raise taxes to pay for care. Do not raise government “fees” to pay for care. (Politicians are suggesting both. Again)
2. Throw da bums out.
3. Do not raise premiums to pay for care. (Politicians are suggesting that, too. Again)
4. Throw da bums out.
5. Reform the health care system. It’s still broken.
6. Did I mention, Throw da bums out?

Merry Christmas.