Doctors unwilling to participate in Covered California Obamacare exchange

Tuesday, February 25, 2014 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: Obamacare, doctors, Covered California

(NaturalNews) Many independent and small-practice doctors throughout California are in for a rude awakening as they learn that Obamacare will require them to provide medical services without full financial reimbursement from the government. CBS San Francisco reports that the "Covered California" Obamacare exchange is now automatically enrolling doctors who not only never signed up for the program but never intended to because, ironically, they cannot afford to do so under the program's reimbursement scheme.

KPIX 5's ConsumerWatch recently interviewed some of the doctors whose names were suddenly appearing on the Covered California Exchange as providers, even though these doctors never actually signed up to be providers. Many of these doctors say they are witnessing a flood of new patients that they cannot afford to treat, because the Obamacare reimbursement scheme only covers a very small portion of the actual costs associated with medical treatments.

Unlike doctors who are associated with large medical groups, and in turn have more clout in negotiating higher reimbursement rates, independent physicians are getting the short end of the stick. It simply is not possible for these smaller providers to offer services to newly covered Obamacare recipients, for which only a very small fraction of the associated costs can be recuperated under the government insurance scam.

"We were astonished because we hadn't signed anything yet," stated Dr. Marie President, a doctor from Redwood City, to KPIX 5. Dr. President is one of many California doctors who was added to the Covered California exchange website without notice or permission, a move by the government that she says is completely unsustainable. "We can't [take these patients], or we'll be out of business."

Obamacare reimbursement scheme designed to put independent doctors out of business

As for the patients who have already tried to sign up through the Covered California site to receive care, many of them are being refused service, because, like Dr. President, the doctors they have chosen are unable to provide medical care under the new paradigm. Many of these newly enrolled Obamacare patients, in fact, are reportedly having trouble finding any doctors who are able to serve them.

As a case in point, Dr. President explained to reporters that a doctor bill totaling $134, for instance, would only receive $59 in reimbursements under Obamacare, or less than half of the actual cost. A standard, pre-Obamacare insurance policy, on the other hand, would generate a reimbursement of $87, with the rest typically being covered by the patient.

"We can't maintain operations at that level of reimbursement," lamented Dr. President. "What's needed is a standard reimbursement rate for physicians so there are incentives to accept those patients. If not, I'm not really sure what's going to happen to those patients."

More concerning is what will happen to all the independent and small-practice doctors out there who will no longer be able to practice under Obamacare's requirements. If this horrendous takeover of healthcare by the government is not forcibly annulled with the help of massive public outrage, the quality of healthcare throughout the U.S., not to mention the availability of quality doctors, is toast.

"People riot in the streets when their favorite sports team wins a championship, but sit idly by while the criminals in government [rob] them blind of property and liberty," wrote one conscious commenter on CBS San Francisco's coverage of the travesty. "For the land of the debt-slave and home of the sheeple."

Sources for this article include:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com