A Doctor's Perspective On Obamacare Plans

[PoliticAverse]

On a recent afternoon at his office in Hartford, Conn., Dr. Doug Gerard examines a patient complaining of joint pain. Gerard, an internist, checks her out, asks her a few questions about her symptoms and then orders a few tests before sending her on her way.

For a typical quick visit like this, Gerard could get reimbursed $100 or more from a private insurer. For the same visit, Medicare pays less — about $80. And now, with the new private plans under the Affordable Care Act, Gerard says he would get something in between, but closer to the lower Medicare rates.

That's not something he's willing to accept.

"I cannot accept a plan [in which] potentially commercial-type reimbursement rates were now going to be reimbursed at Medicare rates,” Gerard says. “You have to maintain a certain mix in private practice between the low reimbursers and the high reimbursers to be able to keep the lights on."

Read the rest at: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2014/August/04/A-Doctors-Perspective-On-Obamacare.aspx

[randys1]

1. Not willing to take that? Take his god damn license

[Warpy]

2. Some of them will get out

and go to work for pharmaceutical companies as sales reps. The smartest will go back to school as educators (lost a lot of good docs that way). Some will just retire on what they socked away during their prime feeding, er, reimbursement years.

Private practices might be a thing of the past, though. My docs work mostly through HMOs, which accounted for 96% of the insurance pie here during the worst years in the 90s. It's less expensive for them because they don't have to maintain stand alone offices and large staffs to process billing.

Still, most will stay in practice. There are so many other ways to make even more money than doctoring does and which require less schooling at far lower expense that doctors in practice now can be counted on to be doing it for something other than the money. After all, money manipulators don't have on-call nights every few nights like doctors do.

[Hoyt]

3. I've known plenty of docs who have done well on Medicare and Medicaid. Not rich, but

in the upper 10% of earners.

Unfortunately, like most folks, many docs and other professionals want to make enough in just a few years ro have a beach and mountain house, etc. That is harder today.

Also, a doc can often work off his student loan in rural or inner city areas.

Finally, an HMO job, making $150 to $200K, ain't a bad thing. Little, if any, call, regular hours, vacation, pretty much a guaranteed job, etc. . . . . . . Not much to gripe about.

[phylny]

4. Not a doctor, but some reimbursement rates for Medicaid are ridiculous.

I'm a speech-language pathologist, and at times we are reimbursed $8 for a 30-minute visit. We are in essence subsidizing the cost of care for the insurer and insured, and losing money on that visit. Eight dollars doesn't come close to paying the salary for the SLP, let alone office staff, overhead, etc. Of course, private insurance won't cover most pediatric therapy anyway.

And no, we are NOT highly paid - you work in pediatrics because you love it, not to get rich.

Sigh.