ACO Debacle Exposes Obamacare's Fatal Conceit | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary

ACO Debacle Exposes Obamacare's Fatal Conceit | Michael F. Cannon | Cato Institute: Commentary: "For nearly five decades, Medicare regulations have financially penalized doctors who coordinate care. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reports that Medicare regulations are 'largely neutral or negative towards quality' and sometimes pay providers 'even more when quality is worse,' like when poor coordination injures Medicare patients.

Obamacare supporters say the solution to this failure of centralized economic planning is ... more centralized economic planning."

"When purchasing health care, the government should do what it can to improve quality while reducing costs. But this latest debacle once again demonstrates that for all its immense purchasing power, Medicare is paradoxically powerless to do so. Why? Because greater efficiency necessarily means that low-quality/high-cost providers will get less money, and those providers all hire lobbyists to protect their Medicare subsidies.

Inefficient providers have effectively killed nearly every pilot program that previous administrations promised would make Medicare more efficient."