Posted on 03/23/2006 11:15:18 AM PST by libertarianPA
WASHINGTON - The percentage of physicians who provide free care to the poor has dropped over the past decade, signaling a growing problem for the uninsured, a survey suggests.
About three-quarters of physicians provided charity care in the mid-1990s, compared with about two-thirds now, according to a study being released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System Change.
The numbers have declined across all major specialties. The highest rate of free care, 78.8 percent, comes from surgeons, perhaps because many of these doctors treat uninsured patients in emergency rooms.
Just over 60 percent of pediatricians provided free care, the lowest rate among the specialties. That could be because children are more likely than adults to have insurance coverage.
Dr. Peter Cunningham, senior researcher for the center, said he believes the drop in charity care reflects two trends:
_stagnant reimbursement rates from the government and lower fees that insurers are negotiating on behalf of their customers.
"In the past, a lot of physicians were able to afford it because they could charge paying patients higher rates," Cunningham said.
_more physicians are leaving solo practices to join large group practices.
"This means they have less control over the types of patients they see," Cunningham said.
The president of the American Medical Association said he was not surprised by the findings. Dr. J. Edward Hill, a family physician from Mississippi, said doctors are committed to providing charity care, but many are constrained by time and finances.
He noted that the average doctor completing residency has about $119,000 in debt.
"Charity care is not the solution to our health coverage problems in this country," Hill said. "Maybe this will help wake up everybody so they understand we've got to solve the problem of almost 46 million people without (insurance) coverage."
Hill said the AMA supports the use of tax credits to make health insurance more affordable and changes in insurance regulation that would reduce costs.
The study said 81 percent of doctors with their own practice or with a two-person office provide some charity care.
The percentage of doctors providing charity care drops to 66 percent when they practice with 11 to 50 other physicians. It drops even further, to 62 percent, when physicians practice in a group of more than 50 physicians.
"With fewer physicians providing charity care, it's going to drive more uninsured people to seek care in hospitals emergency rooms," Cunningham said. "Care in emergency rooms is more costly, it's less efficient."
The center, a nonpartisan group that conducts health research, took its telephone survey of about 6,600 physicians in 2004-05. The center gets most of its financial support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is affiliated with Mathematica Policy Research Inc.
Ah, gee, could it be the high cost of malpractice insurance, punitive taxes, and dealing with insurance companies instead of customers?
My friend's husband is a very well respected surgeon in CT. Last time I spoke with her, she told me he was leaving his practice. She said that not only is his malpractice insurance obscene, but he has to respond to calls at all hours no matter what they are. if the patient is unsinsured, HE GETS NOTHING...buthe has to do the surgery and Medicare pays pennies on the dollar. Sbe said it doesn't pay anymore for him to work. Ironically, he is doing volunteer work, IN ISRAEL. All we have to do is look to see what Doctors in Canada are doing to know what's coming down the pike here. Very sad.
Doctors do lots of charity care, it is called medicaid, medicare and all others of these government programs.
ping
Why don't they ever include the fact that many people who are eligible for insurance at work choose not to buy it?!?
Because that doesn't promote their socialist agenda. They're going to have universal health care by god... truth be damned!
Ah, gee, could it be the high cost of malpractice insurance, punitive taxes, and dealing with insurance companies instead of customers?
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Yeah, and add in the laws that force them (and hostpitals) to care for illegals...at the expense of the consumer and taxpayer. The cost of medical care keeps going up, with service going down. There is going to be a train wreck in this industry.
no gumbint program is ever a failure,
it's just underfunded.
ever wonder how it is smoking is down 50% in the past 15 years ,but health care continues to go up?
(yet we have to ban smoking 'to lower health care costs'.)
If we had universal health insurance, I guess the headline would be:
Numbers of Medical Doctors Providing Free Care drops to Zero!
90% of pollutants from vehicles have been eliminated since 1970 and asthma rates are through the roof.
OK; mine in the NY Times and yours on Fox News.
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