I agree with James somewhat. The bottom line is incentivizing patient healthful behavior, like exercising, stopping smoking (over 20% still do), losing weight, going for preventive care, taking meds that work and not vitamins and other crap that doesn't. Oh -- and learning at least as much about your body as you know about your cellphone or TV remote.
But instead Obamacare will start paying docs on a differential depending on the way patients behave. After all, don't we pay politicians on how much they improve life for their constituents? (Yeah, right)
We Americans are irresponsible and mostly ignorant about our health. When we get benefits for cleaning up our act, then costs will go down and America will be healthier. But nothing in the ACA is going to change that.
