As a healthcare provider I agree healthcare needed to be reformed. However this bill is not the solution it fails the American people in many ways.
1 as the bill was passed it did not include the Dr fix promised. What was this fix? The rates Medicaid and Medicare pays for many treatments are far below the cost of providing these treatments. There was a doc fix originally included in the bill to remedy the situation. Sadly it was not included in the final bill. The result of this is there will continue to be a shortage of Dr’s willing to accept these types of insurance. (Remember the bill greatly expands the Medicaid program) This is already an issue confronting Americans who use these programs.
Here is a quote from the Washington post that demonstrates what happens when you increase the number of people covered by insurance but do not increase the number of providers willing to accept the insurance. Examine what happened in the state of Massachusetts (which already mandates everyone be covered by health insurance.
“Washington has also been training a microscope on the groundbreaking effort in Massachusetts to provide everyone in the state with health insurance: Adding 340,000 people to the rolls of the insured there since 2006 has underscored a shortage of doctors. It takes 63 days on average to get an appointment with a family doctor in Boston, more than twice the wait in Washington, and seven times as long as in Philadelphia and Atlanta, according to a Merritt Hawkins survey.
"If Massachusetts is any guide, with increased access you'd see pent-up demand for health care, and you'd see a lot of frustration with the waiting time to access health care," Phillips said. "It'll swamp the emergency rooms, and those people will be seeking health care in the most expensive settings."
2 The bill does nothing to address tort reform. The cost of malpractice insurance in the US is outrageous and greatly increases the cost of providing healthcare. Not only are malpractice premiums outrageous $ 50,000 -150, 000 per year. That amounts to a contribution of $ 500 - 1,500 per year by each of his patients towards the malpractice insurance. Make plaintiffs and their attorneys who bring unmerited malpractice claims responsible for the cost of defending these frivolous suits. Also put a cap on the percentage that lawyers can charge clients for representing them in malpractice suits. (currently they charge up to 33% of the award plus expenses
3 Streamlining of the paper work jungle that health care providers must navigate in order to get paid was also not addressed in this bill. The paperwork involved to protect against legal liability as well as obtaining payment costs of 25% - 30% of overhead.
4 Really rein in the insurance companies who have been fleecing the American people for far too long. There Ceo’s are making obscene profits while the insurance company’s deny coverage to the most needy of Americans, the sick and dying.
Look at the money these guys are making
Ron Williams - Aetna
Total Compensation: $24,300,112 for 2008
H. Edward Hanway - CIGNA
Total Compensation: $12,236,740 for 2008
