Doctor Pushes Back Against Insurer Scrutiny

[babylonsister]

Doctor Pushes Back Against Insurer Scrutiny

by Victoria Colliver


MONTEREY, Calif - Monterey physician Bradley Carpentier found himself spending so much time fighting with health insurers to get approvals for the treatments he prescribed for his patients that he decided to wage his own lobbying effort.

Carpentier formed a new political action committee - Stop Practicing Medicine - to target the long-standing practice of insurers hiring doctors to review physician decisions, even though the insurer-hired doctors had never seen or talked to the patient whose care they were scrutinizing.

Insurers defend the practice, saying such doctors often serve as a second set of eyes to ensure patients are receiving the most appropriate and effective treatments. But Carpentier, along with patients and other doctors who support his position, says insurers are denying and delaying care.

"We need to let the doctor take care of the patient," said Carpentier, who specializes in pain management. "Pretty much, doctors ultimately do what they want, but it just depends on fighting a lot to get that done. What we've found is fewer patients have access to care in general because we have limited resources. We're being kept so busy fighting and advocating for patients."

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/05/25-0

[Mythsaje]

1. K&R n/t

[havocmom]

2. Insurance companies and big clinics have created 'McMedicine'

We don't have HEALTHCARE in the US. We have pretend, rationed, for profit/not for patient care medicine.

[zorahopkins]

3. Those "Doctors" Are Judases

I canNOT believe it!

So-called "doctors" working for Insurance Companies?

So-called "doctors" whose job it is to second-guess skilled, clinical physicians??!!!

This is just sick -- SICK!!

Those so-called "doctors" should be disbarred, or whatever the correct term is for doctors!

[Lugnut]

4. SICKO

One of those fine "doctors" was featured in Michael Moore's movie.

[loudsue]

5. We need to get rid of ALL health insurance companies, and go to the Canadian model of health care.

And the Canadian model of counting ballots by hand in an election.... in fact, our neighbors to the north know how to run a country a lot better than we do in so many ways.

This country has been so screwed up by corporate rule that we don't have anything resembling rule by the people.