Health and Human Services recently released results from the
first two years of the Accountable Care Organization's experience under the
Affordable Care Act (ACO). The data arrived with little media fanfare, but
critics say that the results show that ObamaCare isn't reducing U.S. healthcare
spending.
ACO's project originally had 32 experienced health systems
that already made progress toward the ACO model, making them ideal for the
study. Thirteen of them have since dropped out because they spent more money
with ObamaCare, with 14 citing increased spending altogether in year one and
six more on top of the remaining 23 in year two. Only 13 health systems
qualified for a bonus in year one and 11 in year two. Overall, per capita
spending was just 0.45 percent lower than the usual fees for service Medicare.
After counting in the $64 million in startup costs for the
health systems against the only $18 million saved for taxpayers in year one and
$43 million in year two, some say that the data appears to show an overall
loss. And they say that these pioneer healthcare systems are some of the
largest and most prepared for change. Apparently the smaller healthcare systems that need the most help
haven't even been accounted for yet.
