As the leader of Obama’s Auto Task Force he oversaw the restructuring of the auto industry based on halving the pay of newly hired workers and imposing deep cuts in health care and pension benefits. Rattner was indicted on charges of corruption and insider-dealing while head of the private equity firm Quadrangle. Steven Rattner-a multi-millionaire financier and former Obama administration “car czar”-spelled out the basic strategy in an opinion piece entitled “Beyond Obamacare” that appeared in the Times last month. While they have disagreements over the best means of accomplishing the job, a principal aim of both the Democrats and the Republicans is to find ways of imposing huge cuts in Medicare spending. ![]() As far as the financial oligarchs are concerned, billions are being wasted keeping alive people who can no longer be exploited for profit. Within US ruling circles, this is considered a serious problem. Older Americans, because they are covered by the federal Medicare program, have been less affected by the economic imperatives to forego health care. ![]() The Census figures released this week cover individuals aged 18-64. Last April, the Times published an article on health care costs under the headline “In Hopeful Sign, Health Spending is Flattening Out.” This “hopeful” trend was a result of the fact that “millions of Americans lost insurance coverage along with their jobs.” The article continued: “Worried about job security, others may have feared taking time off work for doctor’s visits or surgical procedures, or skipped non-urgent care when money was tight.” The newspaper argues that “excess” health care is positively harmful. The Times regularly decries supposedly unnecessary tests and procedures-from mammograms and prostate screenings to stents. The New York Times, which generally tracks the positions of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party, has spearheaded the media promotion of health care rationing. Individuals forced to buy private insurance will either pay more or receive less coverage, and they will likely be more vulnerable to rising co-payments and cuts in services. As many as 20 million people may lose employer-sponsored coverage by 2019, according to estimates. One of the aims of Obama’s health care overhaul is to allow corporations to scrap their employee health care programs and force workers to purchase private insurance on the market. Behind the administration’s health care “reform” is a bipartisan effort to reduce costs for corporations and the government by restricting medical tests, procedures and drugs, and rationing care-with the inevitable consequence of eroding the health and lifespan of large parts of the population. The decline in health care spending and doctor visits will be welcome news to the Obama administration, which has been working for precisely such an outcome. The aim is to establish a class-based health care system in which the vast majority of the population receives bare-bones care, while the rich have access to the best coverage money can buy. This shocking decline is a product not simply of abstract economic forces, but a deliberate policy carried out by the corporations and both big business parties. For white women with less than a high school education, life expectancy fell from 78 to 74 years, and for men in this category from 70.5 to 67.5. A study released last month in the journal Health Affairs found that life expectancy for the poorest sections of the working class fell sharply between 19. The decline in access to health care for millions of people has a predictable consequence: reduced life expectancy. The IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics reported earlier this year that doctor visits fell 4.7 percent in 2011 compared to 2010, and the number of prescriptions issued fell by 1.1 percent. These figures confirm earlier reports of falling doctor visits, fewer prescriptions and stagnant health care spending-a trend that accelerated in 20, years not covered by the Census report. “It’s a widespread decline in the use of medical services,” commented the chief of the Census Bureau’s health and disability statistics branch. In the United States, losing one’s job generally means losing one’s health insurance, and uninsured people are much less likely to visit a doctor.Īt the same time, insurance companies have been raising premiums and co-payments, making doctor visits a major expense even for those who have insurance. ![]() Millions of people have lost their jobs over the past decade, particularly since the onset of the global crisis in 2008. The economic situation is a major factor in this decline. The report is the latest evidence of a sharp decline in access to health care for millions of Americans. The US Census Bureau reported this week that between 20, the average number of doctor visits by individuals aged 18 to 64 fell by nearly 20 percent, from 4.8 visits to 3.9 visits.
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