And This Is Surprising How?
It's not just the GOP using the Affordable Care Act for gain, our capitalist market place has added an niche as well:
From the L.A. Times:
To hold down premiums under the healthcare law, major insurers have sharply cut the number of doctors and hospitals available to patients in the state's new health insurance market.
Now those limited options are becoming clearer, and California officials say they are receiving more consumer complaints about access to medical providers. State lawmakers are also moving swiftly to ease some of the problems that have arisen.
"It's a little early for anyone to know how widespread and deep this problem is," said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. "There are a lot of economic incentives for health insurers to narrow their networks, but if they go too far, people won't have access to care. Network adequacy will be a big issue in 2014." [Emphasis added]
Because the state Insurance Commissioner is keeping a close watch on premiums in "California Care" (the state version of the ACA), the insurers are paring costs (and maintaining profits) by paring the list of doctors in their network. Doctors willing to accept reduced billing rates are promised more patients in return. It's a sweet deal for both the insurance companies and the medical establishment, and a not-so-sweet deal for the patients..
Many patients suddenly discover (often mid-treatment) that their doctors won't/can't accept the patients' insurance. For a cancer patient, this can be devastating. Even if the patient locates another doctor for treatment, the wait for an appointment may be extensive.
Nice, eh?
But that's what happens when you let the insurance companies help in writing the law.
Labels: ACA, Free Markets, Insurance Companies, Universal Health Care Access
posted by Diane at 5:00 AM
1 Comments:
But that's what happens when you let the insurance companies help in writing the law.
So sad. So wrong.
"Forget the politicians. They are irrelevant. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice! You have OWNERS! They OWN YOU. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They’ve long since bought, and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the state houses, the city halls, they got the judges in their back pockets and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear. "
~
Post a Comment
<< Home