Doctors in U.S. Turning Away Insured Patients on Low Payments, Study Finds

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) U.S. doctors are turning away an increasing number of patients, including those with private insurance, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Physicians were willing to accept about 88 percent of patients who had private insurance in 2008, down from 93 percent in 2005, the study released today found. Patients in Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, also had a harder time finding a doctor. About 93 percent were accepted by physicians in 2008, down from 96 percent in 2005.

The drop in doctors willing to take private insurance was caused by low payments for services as well as administrative difficulties, said Dr. Tara Bishop, an assistant professor of public health at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

“At a moment when the country is poised to achieve near- universal coverage, patients’ access to care could be a casualty of the collision between the medical profession and the insurance industry,” Bishop, the lead author of the study, said in a statement. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-27/doctors-turn-away-insured-on-low-payments.html

[Rex]

1. It is all about money and nothing about the clients welfare.

Yet I know there are doctors out there that care and don't treat you like a number...my GP is one and he doesn't have to charge an arm and a leg (he has more patients then he can handle) so he doesn't. Probably in the minority.

[taught_me_patience]

3. Nobody works for free

If insurance companies don't pay then your doctor is working for free. Do you work for free?

[enough]

8. This is the crux of it. The docs work for the insurance companies, nobody else. (nt)

[Heywood J]

17. It feels like it some days... (NT)

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. The country is poised to achieve near- universal coverage??

Really?

[BadgerKid]

6. Think they mean "insurance available" (if you can afford it). n/t

EDIT: cleaned up subject.

[WillowTree]

4. So they're able to actually collect more from individuals than insurance companies pay?

I'm having a little trouble swallowing that one.

[monmouth]

5. If you are a self-pay, and I mean a check paid in full at the end of

the visit...Forget about it..

[RB TexLa]

7. administrative difficulties = it's not as easy for them to steal from the insurance companies as it

once was.

[taught_me_patience]

11. "Not as easy to steal from the insurance companies"

When does getting paid for services performed mean "stealing"?

[Skidmore]

21. Paid for services is decidedly different than "my profession needs to

guarantee that I amass a fortune." Let's face it. Debt for education aside, there are a good many doctors who live well above the means of their patients to foot the bill for them to maintain their lifestyles. In the hospital where I used to work, the doctors would go about actively and loudly supporting Bush during those elections. My dentist used to spout the right wing talking points as well and had a peeve with the lawyer who lived across the way from her practice still displaying a Dean for President sign in his window. The professions have become part of the problem and there has been a good deal of padding bills. Check with any elderly medicare person. One of his doctors tried to charge for materials not even used when the bill was sent for my uncle's care recently. He passed it on to Medicare personnel and the doctor retracted the charge. If more people checked the line by line billing, then there would be less of this. Perhaps some of these professions need to take the same bite that blue collar workers are expected to take.

[marmar]

12. But it's easier than ever from the insurance companies to steal from everyone else.

nt

[IndyPragmatist]

19. The biggest problem is Medicaid and Medicare

Over the years, the great minds in Congress figured out a way to cut Medicare and Medicaid costs...just don't pay the full amount, or string along payments as long as possible. This is also one of the reasons healthcare costs have risen so much. The uninsured and those using Medicare and Medicaid will get service, but the doctor or hospital will not receive full payment, or any payment at all. So they pass the costs on to the people that do pay. If we would stop dicking around with Medicare and Medicaid and just let it do what it is supposed to do, we wouldn't see so many doctors refusing to work with it. They are just doing what is in the best interests of their business. I'd rather not blame the doctors, I blame the congressmen who thought it would be a great idea to cut corners with the healthcare of the people that tend to need it the most.

[ashling]

9. My dad made house calls when he practiced in Henrietta, Tx

in the 50s - I have an Antique Tiffany lamp that he got in payment for a bill.

[marlakay]

10. I remember that as a kid in napa

before all the wineries and tourists it was a small town and if i got real sick doctor would come to my bedroom. And we were on Kaiser my whole growing up years.

[BlueIris]

13. Why would anyone expect a professional to work for free?

Or for minimum wage?

[Fumesucker]

14. So, even if you can afford to use your mandatory insurance..

You might not be able to find a doctor who will be willing to take it?

[girl gone mad]

15. Can you blame them?

I pay cash at my doc's office. She gives me a huge discount and still comes out ahead. Why deal with the parasitic middle men if you don't have to?

[jtrockville]

16. Insurance is the PROBLEM with our health care system.

If we want a solution, the first thing we need to do is banish health insurance.

[hobbit709]

18. A friend of mine does the billing for several doctors.

You wouldn't believe what she has to go through to get the insurance companies and even Medicare to pay up.
The best one so far was Medicare rejecting one because it wasn't signed by the doctor. The rejection fax had a copy of the claim with the doctor's signature clearly visible on it.

[Vinca]

20. After viewing the insurance statements from my recent hip replacement,

I'm stunned at the amounts the insurance companies negotiate with the providers. They're thieves, pure and simple. No wonder health care costs have skyrocketed. If big insurance is only going to pay 60% of the cost of the procedure, providers have to raise the cost of the procedure in order to break even. At the very least there needs to be price controls and regulation of what big insurance has to ACTUALLY pay (no calling an "educational" cruise a medical expenditure).