Doctors Begin To Refuse Obamacare Patients

[Revmitchell]

Obamacare plans have shrunk payments to physicians so much that some doctors say they won’t be able to afford to accept Obamacare coverage, NPR reports.

Many of the eight million sign-ups in Obamacare exchanges nationwide already face more limited choices for physicians and hospitals than those in the private insurance market. But with low physician reimbursement rates, the problem could get even worse.

For a typical quick patient visit, Dr. Doug Gerard, a Connecticut internist, told NPR a private insurer would pay $100 while Medicare would pay around $80. But Obamacare plans are more likely to pay closer to $80, which Gerard says is unsustainable for his practice.

“I cannot accept a plan [in which] potentially commercial-type reimbursement rates were now going to be reimbursed at Medicare rates,” Dr. Gerard told NPR. ”You have to maintain a certain mix in private practice between the low reimbursers and the high reimbursers to be able to keep the lights on.”



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/04/doctors-begin-to-refuse-obamacare-patients/#ixzz39U8ugqCz

 

[Reformed]

When this thing implodes it's going to be ugly.

 

[Rolfe]

Obamacare is not even fully implemented yet.

 

[Magnetic Poles]

Bear in mind, this is the Connecticut exchange, which will likely be modified if this becomes a true issue. This will vary from state to state.

The big problem is that the ACA is merely a way to direct people to a private sector insurance plan, and to provide subsidies for those unable to afford it. The problem is not socialized medicine, which this is not. It is a private sector problem.

The President and the Democrats in Congress compromised too much. We should have a single payer, socialized program like every other civilized nation on earth. Sadly this chimera of a program was the best we could get. Still, I would not want to return to the recent times when you could be dropped from life saving treatment because you got sick, or denied coverage for a pre-existing illness.

 

[Revmitchell]

The problem is trying to apply socialization to the private market you cannot conflate the two. The forcing of buying insurance and the excessive regulation of the market directly from the whitehouse is only a recipe for disaster.

They have all already admitted that Obamacare is nothing but a step to socilaized medicine.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

M.P., the ACA only provides subsidies to SOME of those who can't afford it. Most of them will end up being fined. Some subsidy.

And these guys who are implementing it have shown themselves to be anything but fair arbiters of our rights.

 

[Jkdbuck76]

M.P., the ACA only provides subsidies to SOME of those who can't afford it. Most of them will end up being fined. Some subsidy.

And these guys who are implementing it have shown themselves to be anything but fair arbiters of our rights.

It's not a fine....it's a tax. Or is it??????

 

[Magnetic Poles]

I heard on the radio that there are so many exemptions to the fine, that less than 20% of those that don't take the insurance, will actually end up paying it.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

I heard on the radio the Martians were coming.

 

[Magnetic Poles]

I heard on the radio the Martians were coming.

That's nice.

 

[carpro]

Obamacare plans have shrunk payments to physicians so much that some doctors say they won’t be able to afford to accept Obamacare coverage, NPR reports.

Many of the eight million sign-ups in Obamacare exchanges nationwide already face more limited choices for physicians and hospitals than those in the private insurance market. But with low physician reimbursement rates, the problem could get even worse.

For a typical quick patient visit, Dr. Doug Gerard, a Connecticut internist, told NPR a private insurer would pay $100 while Medicare would pay around $80. But Obamacare plans are more likely to pay closer to $80, which Gerard says is unsustainable for his practice.

“I cannot accept a plan [in which] potentially commercial-type reimbursement rates were now going to be reimbursed at Medicare rates,” Dr. Gerard told NPR. ”You have to maintain a certain mix in private practice between the low reimbursers and the high reimbursers to be able to keep the lights on.”



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/04/doctors-begin-to-refuse-obamacare-patients/#ixzz39U8ugqCz

Completely predictable.

Of course, it started with medicare patients. They are being turned away from doctor's offices by the thousands. Directly as a result of obamacare.