Doctors: Government-Run Health Care Driving Us Out of Business

Daily Signal ^ | 7/25/2014 | Bruce Parker

[markomalley]

Advocates of single-payer health care promise high-quality low-cost health care for all.

But physicians in Vermont say the state’s move towards a single-payer health care system is driving independent doctors out of business and eliminating patient choice.

Dr. Paul Reiss, a family practice physician in Williston, said only 20 percent of the doctors now in Vermont are independents, compared to 50 percent to 60 percent in the rest of the country.

“The health systems have caused it to be nearly impossible from a financial standpoint to stay in private practice. That’s not so in the rest of the country,” he said.

“If I was 10 years younger, I would have left Vermont a long time ago,” says one frustrated doctor.

According to Reiss, the dwindling number of independent doctors in Vermont traces in part to underpayment from government health care programs.

“You get paid for the work you do if you participate with Medicaid, but they pay you considerably less than commercial payers like Blue Cross or MVP, and typically less than Medicare as well. So for the same services you get less.”

Dr. Ernest Bove, a Rutland urologist who has served patients for 29 years, said underpayment from Medicare and Medicaid is hurting specialists, as well.

“Reimbursement rates make it very difficult for a specialist practice to survive in Vermont. That’s why physicians are joining hospitals and becoming employees. They can’t run a business anymore,” he said.

“Reimbursements have been flat for years and have even gone down in many instances. And your expenses keep going up. I estimate a 5 percent cycle of inflation every year … but the reimbursement rate remains flat. Plus your employees need a raise. You just can’t stay alive. That’s why people are leaving.”

For many doctors across Vermont, Medicare and Medicaid patients comprise a significant portion of the total clientele. Bove said 75 percent of his patients come from Medicaid or Medicare. The numbers just don’t work, he said.
DOCTORS OUT: Dr. Ernest Bove, a urologist from Rutland said if he was 10 years younger he would leave Vermont and establish his practice in another state.

“If I was 10 years younger, I would have left Vermont a long time ago to go someplace else to practice,” Bove said.

Read more on Watchdog.org.

[grobdriver]

Obama would read this, sit back and smile.
Mission Accomplished!

[BuffaloJack]

Dear Doctors. Welcome to socialism.

[Common Sense 101]

Gee... No one saw this coming! /s

[dforest]

Just wait until Obama starts importing some of those Pakistani doctors.

[Jack Hammer]

That’s the whole point.

Obama f**ks America.

Again.

[BilLies]

I would guess the real question is not the percentage of independent doctors, but the number of total doctors, before and after.
Independent doctors, like Walmarts, can be found adjacent to Vermont’s long borders with New York and New Hampshire.

[HarleyD]

How many of these Vermont doctors voted for these socialist Democrats all these years? What they’re really complaining about is that they never thought they come after them.

[xzins]

A family practitioner should be looking for a small town or village out in the middle of nowhere USA and practice there. Those areas will never be adequately served even in the best of times, so a doctor’s presence will be big business.

No way I’d recommend city doctoring in today’s climate.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Government-run health care has nothing to do with health care. Just the money people spend on health care. All money rightfully belongs to the government, after all.

[Sooth2222]

Just wait until Obama starts importing some of those Pakistani doctors.

Fret not, they can't get licensed now! (A result of decisions made during the Clinton administration that put a ceiling on the number of hospital residency training positions.) That's why so many Pakistani doctors are operating gas stations and convenience stores. (It's a more lucrative and wise occupational choice than practicing medicine today, so there's really no loss to them.)

I expect we'll soon see commercials with the gov't touting "alternative medicine", since they don't have anywhere near the number of conventional medical practitioners needed to deliver what Obamacare promised. Or any way to create them, at least during my lifetime.

[untenured]

I would guess the real question is not the percentage of independent doctors, but the number of total doctors, before and after.

Not entirely. Once herded into big organizations like hospitals, medical professionals are easier to regulate and control, and less likely to introduce disruptive commercial innovations that threaten government's powers over health care, and hence over a once-free people.

[Vinnie]

Just wait until Obama starts importing some of those Pakistani doctors.

Around here, Raleigh, RTP, about the only doctors accepting new patients are Indian, Pakistani, foreign. And there's a lot of them.

It's not only Vermont where the private dr.s are being driven out.
A friend's dr. told him aside from the low reimbursement for Medicare, Medicaid the time to get the reimbursement can be up to a year.
He said if you had enough money to get through a year you might be able to survive.
All my dr.s are now associated w/ a hospital now. Guess they make a set salary.

[ladyjane]

How many of these Vermont doctors voted for these socialist Democrats all these years?

So true. Remember when they voted for the dairy farmer for the senate?

Vermont is filled with trust fund babies sitting around in cute little coffee shops, hanging out at Ben and Jerry's, and smoking dope. Oh yes, skiing in the winter.

[Gritty]

Maybe they ought to start doing unnecessary amputations of legs to boost their earnings. The Emperor has accused them of doing it anyhow for that reason.

[aimhigh]

Once herded into big organizations like hospitals, medical professionals are easier to regulate and control, . .

Once herded into big organizations like hospitals, medical professionals are easier to unionize. This is the goal.
And where will the dues go? To the Democraps.

[ogen hal]

The best thing these doctors can is retire. Americans need to suffer. Maybe, then, more people will condem LIBs/DIMs/RINOs and stop supporting their insanity.

[cynwoody]

Once herded into big organizations like hospitals, medical professionals are easier to regulate and control, and less likely to introduce disruptive commercial innovations that threaten government's powers over health care, and hence over a once-free people.

Some docs are opting out of the system instead.

Example:

What kind of a practice is this?
This is a direct care, or cash only, practice. This means that Drs. Bee and Lane will no longer contract with any insurance companies and/or third-party payers. Rather, payment is due at the time of service in the form of cash or credit card. A statement with diagnoses and a CPT code as well as ICD-9 codes (these are insurance codes) will be given to the patient so that he/she may submit the claim to his/her insurance company.
Link