Posted on 02/02/2014 2:48:14 AM PST by saywhatagain
Dear Mr. Bertolini,
With a deep sense of sadness, I must inform you that I will no longer serve as a physician for Aetna patients under the terms of our contractual agreement, which you most recently unilaterally changed.
I have been privileged and honored to care for thousands of patients covered by Aetna policies since the 1990’s. I have devoted my life to providing the very best, state-of-the-art care to these individuals. We have formed a patient-doctor relationship, which I hope many will chose to continue in spite of my severing ties with Aetna. You see, health insurance has evolved such that insurers and government have inserted themselves smack-dab in the middle of the once sacred patient-doctor relationship. I am called a provider- not a doctor.
My patient is now yours- not mine. What I can do as a physician now has strangulating strings and nonsensical numbers attached- to you and government and money-not the best interests of the patients.
Obamacare, the “law of the land”, contains ever-changing-at-the-whim-of-HHS, politically-expedient mandates, rewards, penalties, rules and regulations with which I cannot rationally or morally treat my patients and run a practice, much-less interpret, implement, or comply.
Millions of Americans have lost coverage because of the healthcare law and must now shop on a defective, insecure government website and sign up for more expensive policies through Federal and State exchanges. Only by logging in as a prospective patient did my office manager and I discover that Aetna was selling plans for which I am a provider-effectively selling my services without even asking, much less informing me that my services would be sold on such a site, under the auspices of new terms with which I will not comply.
Then, after the fact, I received a form letter informing me of Aetna’s “new allowables”. I will not sell my services under such terms. While treated as such, patients and doctors are not commodities worthy of such impersonal, inconsiderate, and cavalier treatment. We choose dignity and personal service over disrespect and form letters.
So here we are, you are getting new business offering health insurance plans featuring my services without my consent under terms which are unacceptable to me. Accept this as my official written notice that the changes that you have unilaterally made to our contract are unacceptable to me and make our contract null and void.
You must explain this to your patients. You must tell them that they have purchased a product that was misrepresented to them and that you cannot deliver. It saddens me to think of the decreased access to care from actual physicians and the shockingly increased costs Aetna patients will now experience because of your choice to collude with big government rather than collaborate with patients and physicians.
Kris Held MD
Thanks for posting! I noticed that there are more doctors running for office this time around. It is nice to see that they are taking action (trying to) to repeal ObamaCare. We cannot give up on its repeal, and we must give notice to republicans in Congress that they will be sorry if they vote on amnesty. I don’t know WHY they think they have to give Obama something just because he formed that gang of 8. Nonsense! There is no reason to rush through ANYTHING at all. And, a good point to make would be that Obama will not enforce it if he doesn’t like it...probably won’t sign it if he doesn’t. Take the time to deal with the border now. THAT is the most important, AFTER repealing ObamaCare!
Yes 13 amendment probably covers this but then under his excellency just another thing that just needs not be followed like the first, second, and rest of the amendments unless they are being used to help a protected group. For instance, their is no free speech anymore unless it is the DNC saying or doing it.
Gottmark this ,,, Good for you Dr.
Exactly and that is why the war has been lost.
Those who can, leave, the rest accept the status quo. Go along, get along.
Fear is an incredible weapon. Fear of expensive tax audits, fear of invasion of privacy, etc.
That is what makes Dr. Kris very special. She is not quitting. She just refuses to "go along" like all the other sheeple."
Gotta love them Southern Belles. Wish there were more willing to kick a** and even more showing them our support
If you leave it up to the insurance company to explain it, they could make you out to be the bad actor.
Better that you inform your patients and tell your side of the story.
“and the reason the insurance companies were so compliant or frankly co-conspirators in all this”
Obama guaranteed that he would reimburse the losses to insurance companies on all policies that are Obamacare compliant. No reimbursement on the old policies.
A notice of an IRS audit is being printed out at this instant.
I got a letter from my family doc on Friday stating that starting in two months he is limiting his practice to the first 600 people that sign up and pay an additional $1650 a year on top of regular fees.
Good point. That doctor is the perfect counter to the dem's clumsy "war on women" smears. But the GOP won't push back. They just won't.
“I got a letter from my family doc on Friday stating that starting in two months he is limiting his practice to the first 600 people that sign up and pay an additional $1650 a year on top of regular fees.”
Concierge medicine is risky for the provider if they charge an additional fee on top of regular fees if the regular fees are in any way paid via insurance. Insurance contracts prohibit additional fees for service and even if additional fees are purportedly for uncovered services, if it can be shown that the services provided should be included under the aegis of a covered service, the provider is in deep trouble, especially if we’re talking about a government provider.
So for example, priority scheduling would probably not be an uncovered service. But perhaps a home visit, certain number of phone calls, co-ordination of service MIGHT be uncovered. Providers must give their contracted, insured patients an ABN (advanced beneficiary notice) to their patient to bill for an uncovered service.
OTOH, if your provider doesn’t take your insurance, self pay contracts are still ok, at least for now.
..the rich,powerful and “connected” will *never* have trouble getting all the care they want...and getting it immediately.
The rich and powerful pols might find that they get an IV push of 40meq KCl for their treatment, unless a tip is offered.
How many are like her?
Concierge medicine. We’re going back to the wild west days, where a barter system takes hold.
This doctor could get into all types of trouble with that approach.
He/she/it would be better off charging a flat $200/month and let the patients try to bill their insurance company.
A FP doctor friend, who retired last year, rather than face this Obozo Care BS is being asked to open his practice to 3 days per week, limit his practice to about 300 patients and charge them a flat $250/month with the patients being responsible for all lab/pharmacy and other health care costs. Patients would pay cash for any injectable shots.
He would pick and chose the patients with his retired nurse and wife, the former receptionist. All patients would sign a pre patient form, noting that if they became unruly, hostile or a pain to treat, they would have to find another doctor.
Whoa! Doctor Doctor give the news/I got a bad case of lovin’ blues’’...
The 2A should be applied to the current administration and the whole passel of Congresscritters! Obamacare is socialist tyranny! What would The Founders do?
“I told my doctor “Hey Doc, every morning I wake up I look in the mirror and I get sick! What’s the matter with me?’’. He said “I dunno but your eye sights perfect’’.
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