Over 214,000 Doctors Opt Out of Obamacare Exchanges

cnsnews.com ^ | October 28, 2014 | Barbara Boland

[dontreadthis]

Over 214,000 doctors won't participate in the new plans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA,) analysis of a new survey by Medical Group Management Association shows. That number of 214,524, estimated by American Action Forum, is through May 2014, but appears to be growing due to plans that force doctors to take on burdensome costs. It's also about a quarter of the total number of 893,851 active professional physicians reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

In January, an estimated 70% of California's physicians were not participating in Covered California plans.

Here are some of the reasons why:

1. Reimbursements under Obamacare are at bottom-dollar - they are even lower than Medicare reimbursements, which are already significantly below market rates. "It is estimated that where private plans pay $1.00 for a service, Medicare pays $0.80, and ACA exchange plans are now paying about $0.60," a study by the think-tank American Action Forum finds. "For example, Covered California plans are setting their plan fee schedules in line with that of Medi-Cal-California's Medicaid Program-which means exchange plans are cutting provider reimbursement by up to 40 percent."

2. Doctors are expected to take on more patients to make up for the lost revenue, but that's not happening, because primary care doctors already have more patients than they can handle. "Furthermore, physicians are worried that exchange plan patients will be sicker than the average patient because they may have been without insurance for extended periods of time, and therefore will require more of the PCPs time at lower pay," says the study.

The study also points to two reasons that doctors might not get paid at all:

[snooter55]

bflr

[Mrs. B.S. Roberts]

“Where is the incentive to remain in medicine ?
Doctors still have staff salaries, office rental, equipment usage fees, additional clerical billing codes , what’s not to like about staying in medicine ?”

Let’s not forget skyrocketing malpractice insurance etc.
Incentive to remain in medicine.....Not
Incentive to become doctor (incurring all that college costs)
.....NOT!!

a major shortage of good doctors in on the horizon!

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Mrs. B.S. Roberts :"Let’s not forget skyrocketing malpractice insurance etc.
Incentive to remain in medicine.....Not
Incentive to become doctor (incurring all that college costs) .....NOT!!
a major shortage of good doctors in on the horizon!

All good points !
It takes a committment of time , money (or loans), and concern for others (altruistic motivation) to become a doctor .
But right now , the biggest limitation to effective doctors practice is the liability insurance; it is an ongoing and progressive expense in this age of litigation.
The expense of becomming a doctor involves a 4 yr.college degree, two years of intership, and another two years of speciality ( all post-graduate).
That too is one heck of an expense of time , finance,and educational committment that is reflected in medical fees.
Point well taken !

Can you blame them for dropping out when attempting to recover their expenses just to stay in business ?
Medicare and Medicaid only reimburse at 60% of the doctors' cost; that means that the remaining 40% of expense is supposed to eaten by the doctor.
Can you remain in business by taking a 40% cut off the top of your expenses - not likely, without declaring bankruptcy !

[eyeamok]

And you could fly first class to and stay in the nicest Hotel they have by getting it done in Oklahoma :http://www.surgerycenterok.com/pricing/ for $4000

[Mrs. B.S. Roberts]

“Can you blame them for dropping out when attempting to recover their expenses just to stay in business ?
Medicare and Medicaid only reimburse at 60% of the doctors’ cost; that means that the remaining 40% of expense is supposed to eaten by the doctor.
Can you remain in business by taking a 40% cut off the top of your expenses - not likely, without declaring bankruptcy ! “

Don’t worry there won’t be any hospitals left for them to
practice in anyway. /semi-sarc

I work for a small non-profit community hospital. Medicare
and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals are decreasing too. Remember also that a hospital CANNOT turn anyone away. (private insurers are also decreasing reimbursements too because they follow Medicare’s lead). Our hospital “eats” a
lot of free care too.

[Monorprise]

Its going to get worse all we got to do is sit on our asses and not repeal Obama care and before we know it there will be almost no health insurance industry in the US only enormous bills.
With massively complicated ponzi insurance schemes which most of the population can nether afford or understand.

More and more of what is left of the real health care financing will come from what is left of the grandfather plans and out of pocket. Obama really knew how to rig a system to explode.

Now if only we didnt have dimwits like MichMcConnel too short sighted and corrupted to take atvantage and take down this monstrosity.

[Red Badger]

Soon they will not be allowed to ‘opt out’, their services will be MANDATORY by LAW or XO..............................

[Red Badger]

a major shortage of good doctors in on the horizon!

They will go to Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti all over the Caribbean..................