red states rule
12-08-2013, 07:13 AM
OK, our leader Barry keeps bellowing how millions of people who previously did not have health insurance will now have health insurance. Now another problem (as if Obamacare needs any more problems) showing up is there will not be enough Doctor's to treat these people
Seems these Doctor's want to be PAID for their services and that is NOT part of Obamacare!
Another glaring example of why the ‘if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor’ mantra President Obama and other ACA enthusiasts touted is simply false (http://washingtonexaminer.com/doctors-boycotting-californias-obamacare-exchange/article/2540272):
An estimated seven out of every 10 physicians in deep-blue California are rebelling against the state's Obamacare health insurance exchange (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/health-care-exchanges) and won't participate, the head of the state's largest medical association said.
“It doesn't surprise me that there's a high rate of nonparticipation,” said Dr. Richard Thorp, president of the California (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/california) Medical Association.
Thorp has been a primary care doctor for 38 years in a small town 90 miles north of Sacramento. The CMA represents 38,000 of the roughly 104,000 (http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/01/29/are-there-enough-medi-cal-doctors-in-kern-county-how-about-statewide-who-knows/) doctors in California.
“We need some recognition that we’re doing a service to the community. But we can’t do it for free. And we can’t do it at a loss. No other business would do that,” he said.
California offers one of the lowest government reimbursement rates in the country -- 30 percent lower than federal Medicare (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/medicare-and-medicaid) payments. And reimbursement rates for some procedures are even lower.
In other states, Medicare pays doctors $76 for return-office visits. But in California, Medicare’s reimbursement is $24, according to Dr. Theodore M. Mazer, a San Diego ear, nose and throat doctor.
In other states, doctors receive between $500 to $700 to perform a tonsillectomy. In California, they get $160, Mazer added.
Only in September did insurance companies disclose that their rates would be pegged to California’s Medicaid plan, called Medi-Cal. That's driven many doctors to just say no.
Who would have guessed? Physicians, like I’m sure most working adults, would rather not be paid a fraction of what their services are worth, so are choosing not to participate. This in turn means the pool of doctors available to patients will be smaller. And worse yet, they're currently being led to believe that more doctors are participating than actually are.
“Some physicians have been put in the network and they were included basically without their permission,” Lisa Folberg said. She is a CMA’s vice president of medical and regulatory Policy.
“They may be listed as actually participating, but not of their own volition,” said Donald Waters, executive director of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association.
Waters' group represents 3,100 doctors in the East Bay area that includes Oakland, with an estimated 200,000 uninsured individuals.
“This is a dirty little secret that is not really talked about as they promote Covered California,” Waters said. He called the exchange's doctors list a “shell game” because “the vast majority” of his doctors are not participating.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2013/12/06/doctors-boycotting-californias-obamacare-exchange-n1758785
Seems these Doctor's want to be PAID for their services and that is NOT part of Obamacare!
Another glaring example of why the ‘if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor’ mantra President Obama and other ACA enthusiasts touted is simply false (http://washingtonexaminer.com/doctors-boycotting-californias-obamacare-exchange/article/2540272):
An estimated seven out of every 10 physicians in deep-blue California are rebelling against the state's Obamacare health insurance exchange (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/health-care-exchanges) and won't participate, the head of the state's largest medical association said.
“It doesn't surprise me that there's a high rate of nonparticipation,” said Dr. Richard Thorp, president of the California (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/california) Medical Association.
Thorp has been a primary care doctor for 38 years in a small town 90 miles north of Sacramento. The CMA represents 38,000 of the roughly 104,000 (http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/01/29/are-there-enough-medi-cal-doctors-in-kern-county-how-about-statewide-who-knows/) doctors in California.
“We need some recognition that we’re doing a service to the community. But we can’t do it for free. And we can’t do it at a loss. No other business would do that,” he said.
California offers one of the lowest government reimbursement rates in the country -- 30 percent lower than federal Medicare (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/section/medicare-and-medicaid) payments. And reimbursement rates for some procedures are even lower.
In other states, Medicare pays doctors $76 for return-office visits. But in California, Medicare’s reimbursement is $24, according to Dr. Theodore M. Mazer, a San Diego ear, nose and throat doctor.
In other states, doctors receive between $500 to $700 to perform a tonsillectomy. In California, they get $160, Mazer added.
Only in September did insurance companies disclose that their rates would be pegged to California’s Medicaid plan, called Medi-Cal. That's driven many doctors to just say no.
Who would have guessed? Physicians, like I’m sure most working adults, would rather not be paid a fraction of what their services are worth, so are choosing not to participate. This in turn means the pool of doctors available to patients will be smaller. And worse yet, they're currently being led to believe that more doctors are participating than actually are.
“Some physicians have been put in the network and they were included basically without their permission,” Lisa Folberg said. She is a CMA’s vice president of medical and regulatory Policy.
“They may be listed as actually participating, but not of their own volition,” said Donald Waters, executive director of the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association.
Waters' group represents 3,100 doctors in the East Bay area that includes Oakland, with an estimated 200,000 uninsured individuals.
“This is a dirty little secret that is not really talked about as they promote Covered California,” Waters said. He called the exchange's doctors list a “shell game” because “the vast majority” of his doctors are not participating.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2013/12/06/doctors-boycotting-californias-obamacare-exchange-n1758785