This is Universal Coverage?
As Texas gets ready for a huge (ObamaCare) expansion of Medicaid enrollment in 2014, doctors are bailing out:
According to the Health and Human Services Commission, the program’s overseer, only about 15,000 of the state’s 48,700 practicing doctors are active in Medicaid.
This is going to be a disaster. And the NCPA is right about emergency room use. It is going to soar.
From what I see:
Obamacare = decreased supply in healthcare + increased demand
I’m not an economist, but that seems like a problem.
All this is happening in Texas because of their current budget problems, not the healthcare bill. My understanding is that the bill is supposed to significantly increase physician reimbursements for Medicaid, that should get more doctors to participate.
The Affordable Care Act apparently has funding to raise the Medicaid reimbursement rates to Medicare levels, but only for two years (I believe it is 2014 and 2015) and then it drops back to its previous level. I know, hard to believe but true.
Every state that I know of has a problem funding Medicaid and every state has a problem with doctors not wanting to see Medicaid patients. If half or more of the newly insured are in private plans, paying above Medicaid rates, doctors will be able to fill their offices with higher paying patients and it will really be hard for Medicaid patients to find doctors who will see them.
If Congress can require citizens to purchase health insurance, why can’t Congress require doctors to participate in Medicaid? We could call it the “Anti-Greed Medicaid Unification Act.”
John, I agree, Medicaid funding it abysmal. You run a influential group, why don’t you advocate for raising Medicaid funding to Medicare levels.
I agree with artk. Having funding split into Medicare and Medicaid smacks of elitism to me. I realize that the history of the two systems has created these separate entities, but frankly, the distinction is outdated.
To say that our elderly should get health care that is reimbursed at a higher level than the health care for poor people is silly. If we’re going to talk about equality and collectivism, we ought to at least apply it equally. (Or, how about just switching to a free market system where we don’t have to worry about reimbursement rates except within our own high-deductible plans?)