Medicare vs. the Private Sector
This is Scott Gottlieb, writing in the Wall Street Journal:
- Private plans already pay doctors more than Medicare because they compete to attract higher quality providers into their networks.
- A recent report by PriceWaterhouse Coopers that examined 10 of the nation's largest commercial health plans found that eight had implemented performance-based pay measures for doctors.
- [In] Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Virginia, doctors are paid more for delivering better outcomes.
This is like David vs. Goliath or Little Mac vs. Mike Tyson.
The good news is that in both stories the little man wins, hopefully it works that way in real life.