[California] Insurers limiting doctors, hospitals in health insurance market

[PoliticAverse]

Last edited Sun Sep 15, 2013, 02:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Insurers in California's new health insurance exchange are holding down premiums by limiting choices, raising concerns that patients will struggle to get care.

The doctor can't see you now.

Consumers may hear that a lot more often after getting health insurance under President Obama's Affordable Care Act.

To hold down premiums, major insurers in California have sharply limited the number of doctors and hospitals available to patients in the state's new health insurance market opening Oct. 1.

Read the rest at: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure-doctor-networks-20130915,0,2814725.story
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Single page (no ads version): http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure-doctor-networks-20130915,0,3866885,print.story

[cbayer]

1. I can't see how limiting providers is going to hold down their costs at all.

If someone can't get in to see the doctor, they are more likely to end up with complications or in the emergency room.

[NV Whino]

2. Two words come to mind

Cluster fuck.


Single payer now! Get the damned insurance companies out of the loop.

[DJ13]

3. Insurers are the REAL death panels

[Heddi]

4. before my husband and I lost our insurance because of change in job status

(we are per-diem RN's and therefore not eligible for benefits at our respective hospitals) , we had insurance through Blue Cross. I called in July to make an appointment for us to be seen and have new-patient checkups, labs, etc.

Firstly, I had to call for DAYS to find any MD's that were taking new patients. Not Medicare/Medicaid patients...people with insurance via their jobs.

When I finally found a MD that would take us, the earliest appointment we could get is OCTOBER.

I called the 5th of July.

Continued to call around and found other Md's that could take us....in September, October, and my favourite "well, we're booked through the end of the year but you can call back every day to see if we have a cancellation" :-/

$400 a month (June, July, August, September = $1600) in deductibles for us and we were never able to see an MD before we lost our insurance because of change of job status/job description.

I can't imagine what it's going to be like with ACA