One of the "cost saving" measures contained in ObamaCare are the provisions related to Accountable Care Organizations (ACO) which will create an HMO like program in Medicare.  Seniors will not have a choice if they are assigned to an ACO but will be assigned based on their previous year's use of the health care system.  Critics have noted that the ACO regulations issued by the Obama Administration earlier this year will cause doctors to violate the Hippocratic Oath by putting cost containment above patient care (this will occur because doctors who are part of an ACO will get paid based on costing savings).

The Heritage Foundation has issued a new document detailing some of the specific problems of the ACO regulations, among these problems:  "The only way ACOs can work to reduce costs is to become a more integrated and closed network of providers who follow data-driven protocols for care. That means they can’t let their beneficiaries go to see just any specialist. The ACO needs patients to see only the ACO’s preferred list of specialists. But that will be nearly impossible to enforce if beneficiaries never agreed to become part of the managed care environment of an ACO in the first place.”

This is a big price for seniors to pay when the ACOs are likely to save 0.05% (yes, 5/100ths of 1%) of all anticipated Medicare spending during the first three years of the ACO program.

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