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Thousands of doctors fired by United HealthCare
WTNH-TV ^ | October 10, 2013 | Jocelyn Maminta

Posted on 10/11/2013 7:34:38 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH)-- In the midst of major changes in health care, United HealthCare has sent thousands of pink slips to Connecticut doctors.

Termination letters went to physicians caring for Medicare patients.

Those letters were sent out to doctors caring for 'Medicare Advantage' patients.

It's a plan, marketed to Seniors to provide additional services through UnitedHealthCare.

A mix of primary care and specialty doctors are affected by it. And it comes at a questionable time.

Open enrollment for Medicare starts next Tuesday, and it's still not clear at this time as to which doctors are still in the United network....

(Excerpt) Read more at wtnh.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: bhohealthcare; connecticut; healthcare; layoffs; medicare; medicine; seniors; unitedhealthcare
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To: Starboard
Dems are going to get the blame for this fiasco...Obama deceived the people and when they finally realize it he will pay a price for that.

Wish I were so optimistic.

41 posted on 10/11/2013 8:01:49 AM PDT by workerbee (The President of the United States is DOMESTIC ENEMY #1)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Since open enrollment begins next Tuesday, 15 Oct., we all need to be on the alert for HMOs across the US making announcements either today (Fri) or next Monday, assuming they won’t do so on the weekend.

So will it be at close of business today? Tens or likely hundreds of thousands of doctors suddenly let go across the US?


42 posted on 10/11/2013 8:02:30 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (The best War on Terror News is at rantburg.com)
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To: rktman

Last year (2012 for 2013), I stayed signed up with the Medicare Advantage plan I had the previous year. Soon after the enrollment period started last October, I got a letter from SocialSecurity/Medicare. The letter stated that the insurer of my plan did not have very high recommendation marks and that I should consider changing plans. The plan 'recommended' by the letter was the AARP UnitedHealth plan.

Soon thereafter, I got a letter from my insurer stating that their rating was in the same range (3 stars) as other plans in my state and they planned to continue service and even add new features.

==

That proved to me that SS/Medicare was instructed to break their own regulation which prohibits insurers from contacting perspective clients for the purpose of getting them to join a specific Medicare Advantage plan. Insurers can run general information ads, however.


43 posted on 10/11/2013 8:03:13 AM PDT by TomGuy (.)
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To: Starboard
Dems are going to get the blame for this fiasco

Oh no they aren't.
All of the citizens who are currently receiving something for nothing, along with all of the unwashed masses flooding in are changing the electoral total dynamic. - if we allow it.

Why do you think the dems are adamant about not dealing now?

Do you think that they give one whit about free healthcare for any reason other than to build an unbreakable one party lock on all levels of government?

44 posted on 10/11/2013 8:03:24 AM PDT by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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To: MrB

Some delusional people think their goal is so worthy that they can lie their asses off to obtain it. Communist are specialists at this. So is the devil.


45 posted on 10/11/2013 8:04:00 AM PDT by fabian (" And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo in laughter")
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To: fabian

Another factor on the left is that they believe that they must lie because the people are too intellectually inferior to understand the worthiness of the goal.


46 posted on 10/11/2013 8:05:24 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

What a cluster


47 posted on 10/11/2013 8:07:38 AM PDT by Hildy (Falling down is how you grow. Staying down is how you die.)
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To: MrB

I don’t know if they are that sophisticated. I know sometimes they know full well they lie, but the lie sounds better than the truth and they need to do that in order to get what they “think” is good. All leads to ruination...just like obummercare.


48 posted on 10/11/2013 8:09:47 AM PDT by fabian (" And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo in laughter")
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To: bill1952

Agree that Dems wanted to hook people and expand government’s role in healthcare for policial and ideological reasons.

However, IMHO we haven’t yet seen the real scope of problems with Obamacare. Give it a little longer and you’ll see some real horror stories that can’t be covered up by the media.

The complexity of this thing is beyond comprehension. The costs will be astronomical. The medical privacy we once enjoyed will be totally gone. The quality of care will be abysmal.

The average American will know who to blame.


49 posted on 10/11/2013 8:12:46 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My guess is, this was not supposed to happen until after the 2014 elections. Stay tuned.

On second thought, I’m sure Rush will once again point out this is a huge win for Obama.


50 posted on 10/11/2013 8:13:29 AM PDT by Artcore
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To: Paine in the Neck

To practice, you must be extensively credentialed by Federal and State bureaucracies.

To prescribe, the Feds must issue you a DEA #.

How difficult is it to do a computer crosscheck and find the names of the renegades who practice and prescribe, but whose names are not on the list of those approved to do so by the licensing agencies?


51 posted on 10/11/2013 8:14:05 AM PDT by dagogo redux (A whiff of primitive spirits in the air, harbingers of an impending descent into the feral.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Some months ago a friend said that students entering medical school are majoring in the ER as that’s where they will be busiest and guaranteed employment.


52 posted on 10/11/2013 8:16:16 AM PDT by sarasota
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
My Doctor (in Texas), just sent out a very nice letter announcing his retirement at the end of the year. A conservative older gentleman, he is nearing that age, although he is in good apparent health, but he did drop hints in his letter that there are "big changes" coming soon in healthcare. I am convinced that this is the avalanche of problems being heralded in by Obamacide.

It's a shame. I liked my doctor; had him for over 15 years. I feel like he's "shrugging."

53 posted on 10/11/2013 8:16:24 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/UnitedHealthcare-drops-state-physicians-from-4879923.php
snip

UnitedHealthcare plans to eliminate 810 primary-care physicians and 1,440 specialists
from its Medicare Advantage network in Connecticut next year, the association said. The
insurer would not confirm that number Wednesday but said that, in 2014, it will have at
least 1,500 primary-care physicians and more than 4,000 specialists in the network.

end snip


54 posted on 10/11/2013 8:16:29 AM PDT by deport
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To: TurboZamboni
Can you believe that speech she made?!?!?!

Geesh....what a moron.

55 posted on 10/11/2013 8:16:53 AM PDT by Osage Orange (I have strong feelings about gun control. If there's a gun around, I want to be controlling it.)
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To: GYPSY286
Those fired doctors should get together - open a practice with “cash only”.

That will soon not be allowed. Seriously.

56 posted on 10/11/2013 8:17:09 AM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: TomGuy
"Something doesn’t ring true about this article. In my state, all an insurance co has to do is withdraw from the Medicare Advantage program. My 2013 insurance co just did that for 2014. Other insurers have dropped out in previous years, and some new ones have been added in recent years."

I had the same feeling. I suspect that it's not accurate to say that the doctors were "fired" or given "pink slips," but that the network is no longer reimbursing them for certain services. Just guessing . . .
57 posted on 10/11/2013 8:18:02 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m in Texas, but I’m afraid I’ll lose my doctor. He is one of the best I’ve ever had, but is not a member of the AMA and has Tea Party values. He tries to work around the system and says he’ll keep accepting Medicare patients, but also says it’s getting harder and harder. Don’t know what I’ll do if they drop him as I have a rare genetic disorder and not many doctors even know about it, much less how to treat it.


58 posted on 10/11/2013 8:18:23 AM PDT by MomofMarine
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Back alley” Health clinics, off the grid, on on the way. Concierge Physicians will be the norm. The rest will be staffed by the DREGS of orur medical schools.


59 posted on 10/11/2013 8:18:49 AM PDT by LeonardFMason
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Better start raising chickens ... for barter for medical services.


60 posted on 10/11/2013 8:19:44 AM PDT by Lorianne (fedgov, taxporkmoney)
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