The article that appeared in The Democrat on Feb. 20 titled “Affordable Care Act cuts bills for some in Mississippi,” seemed to make a case in support of the Affordable Care Act, also called “ObamaCare.”

It seems clear to me that there is less-than-honest information being perpetrated by supporters in order to promote acceptance of this health care act. The implication in the article was that preventive services are now “free,” and that such preventive care was not available until this wonderful law was passed. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Even Medicare, which is generally behind the times on paying for preventive services, has paid for screening colonoscopies since Jan. 1, 1998. Screening mammography has also been covered for at least 10 years, if not longer, as has screening for prostate cancer using PSA testing.

Private insurers have covered wellness exams for several years, well before ObamaCare existed. For example, Blue Cross has their Healthy You program in place since January 2005. For that Healthy You visit, there were no co-pays for the exam or the specific tests which were covered as part of the screening evaluation.

Medicare did not have a billable code for an examination as simple as a “wellness” visit until January 2011, and that was included in the Affordable Care Act, but given that private insurance had been doing this for some years, it was likely only a matter of time until Medicare would get on board with this feature.

Again, Medicare has covered screening tests such as mammography, colonoscopy and PSA testing since the late 1990s. We even pulled some old bills prior to 2011 for Medicare patients for colonoscopies that one of my partners performed, and it turns out Medicare actually paid his fees 100 percent even before ObamaCare rules began to take effect in January 2011.

There is already enough complexity in the health care industry and misunderstanding between “screening evaluations” and “diagnostic evaluations” that make providers and patients alike very confused. There is no need to claim that these services are suddenly “free” because of this newly enacted law, the cost of which continues to grow as outlined in a column published on Feb. 22 by Sen. Roger Wicker.

There is no “free lunch,” and any mandated service is costing someone else, either the taxpayer indirectly through the taxes they pay or consumers indirectly through the cost of all goods or services paid to the industry which is having to pay heavier prices either for participating with the purchase of insurance or paying the fines levied on them if they do not buy insurance.

Health care is clearly an expensive proposition, and at the current rate of the rise of health care expenditures, it will consume the majority of our nation’s budget within the next few generations if changes do not occur. We need clear and truthful information, however, in order to make proper judgments. Price controls have never worked and there needs to be more transparency in medical billing and all of us need to take responsibility for making healthy choices in our day-to-day activities to avoid so much illness that we cause by over eating, over indulging in various substances and lack of exercise.

It has been estimated that if we could eliminate obesity in this country, the cancer death rate would drop by 30 percent.

Think of the cost savings to our health care budget if we just chose a little more sensible eating and a few extra walking steps every day.

False advertising for a politically controlled health care mandate won’t save money or make our lives healthier.

 

Dr. Ken Stubbs is an internist at Internal Medicine Clinic.