Posted on 12/23/2014 2:27:35 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Andy Pasternak, a family doctor in Reno, Nev., has seen more than 100 new Medicaid patients this year after the state expanded the insurance program under the Affordable Care Act.
But he won’t be taking any new ones after Dec. 31. That’s when the law’s two-year pay raise for primary care doctors like him who see Medicaid patients expires, resulting in fee reductions of 43 percent on average across the country, according to the nonpartisan Urban Institute.
The challenge is to convince physicians not just to continue accepting such patients but to take on more without getting paid what they’re used to, said Dr. J. Mario Molina, CEO of Molina Healthcare, one of the nation’s largest Medicaid insurers.
Low reimbursement rates are not the only reason doctors’ avoid Medicaid. High patient no-show rates also make private physicians reluctant about participating.
(Excerpt) Read more at kaiserhealthnews.org ...
Bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa to all medicaid participants who vote for LIBs/DIMs. Have a Merry Christmas!
Doctors’ fault for letting what should have been a voluntary “guild” arrangement turn into a government agency that put their cods in a vice.
KYPD
Good.
How long until Rats try to force doctors to accept Medicaid patients in order to keep their medical licenses?
I get beat up a lot on other sites for pointing out that Texas didn’t take the Obamacare Medicaid bait.
Then it occurred to me that adding a million or so Texans with the right to see a doctor at any time, without having to pay anything, is probably the LAST THING that our medical system needs - as the Medicaid expansion DOES NOTHING to provide doctors for those million new people...and at $50 per visit, neither are there any incentives to have more doctors. So we wind up with VERY CROWDED doctor’s offices.
Smart move on Perry’s part...it’s good to see him get something right, for once.
The writer nailed it. It’s not just below cost reimbursement rates for Medicaid, it’s that Medicaid patients No Show FAR more often than other patients. They have a minimal copay of $1 and no real skin in the game. There are also the most pathological and the least likely to benefit from treatment.
If I have a “fundamental” right to your labor, what does that make you besides a Doctor??
So get paid less for those who do show up, don’t get paid when they don’t, and risk getting less money if the patients least likely to follow directions get sicker.
No wonder on one wants to take Medicaid patients.
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