As I explained in the Mediscare/Paul Ryan blog a couple of weeks ago, Medicare’s price-fixing has resulted in the Health Insurance industry indexing their prices to Medicare. Additionally, unrealistic demands by both are causing primary care doctors to just flat refuse to contract. The two tiered system is already starting to accelerate and this will only hasten under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). As I had argued a long time ago health insurance does not equal health care. If your doctors don’t contract or agree to terms dictated by the third-party payors, I would ask folks, why are we buying all this insurance? Perhaps we need to demand less “coverage”, more catastrophic coverage and start paying our providers directly when services are provided. If we want less expensive care, let’s let the doctors do their job, document less (for the payors) and pay/collect at the time of service; this is more efficient and won’t compromise your care.
Below is a link to a recent Wall Street Journal article illustrating how doctors are not contracting but instead providing people what they want/need from us while charging “real fees” for our expertise and time.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443404004577578980699719356.html
3 Responses
I think “your” system makes sense!