[lit-ideas] Re: Here's a new one
- From: "Julie Krueger" <juliereneb@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 16:36:01 -0500
For many years now, the issue of Doc's not accepting Medicaid has been
a problem. But Medicare has, in general, been widely accepted by
providers. The times they are a changin' -- and you can't afford to
provide health care anymore. As a provider, I can say both that we
have continued to accept Medicare's allowables for our care, that we
never turn down a patient because they have Medicare or Medicaid as
their primary, and that it is becoming increasingly difficult to stay
a solvent business based on what Medicare is reimbursing. I suppose
eventually there will not only be a lack of insurance issue, but a
lack of provider unless you are wealthy issue -- simply because
providers of whatever stripe are rapidly going bankrupt. The more
patients who present Medicare as their primary, the higher the fee the
provider must set for private insurance & self-pay circumstances, just
to offset. We do very little with private insurance, because the
hoops one must jump through, contracts, capped billing, etc., don't
make it worth messing with, and we never bill a patient for whatever
their insurance does not cover.
Julie Krueger
On 5/17/07, carol kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Julie wrote:"One would have hoped that the Federal Govt. would insist that
providers accept Medicare, but hey -- whaddo I know."
ck: Yes, this is horrible and unfortunately, terribly common. Where I live,
half of the insured population is on Medicare, yet only a handful of doctors
admit Medicare (or Medicaid) patients. The result? Emergency room care only.
There should be some way to mandate actual medical CARE for people. The AMA
isn't interested, though, in reducing doctors' fees, just as the docs who
opt out of Medicare/Medicaid aren't interested in tending to people whose
insurance doesn't reimburse at prime rates.
I haven't seen this issue (doctors opting out) addressed in the propose
California plan or elsewhere, though. Anyone?
Carol
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