Originally published December 10 2013
Obamacare forcing insurers to dump doctors, stranding thousands of patients
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) One of the predictable effects of Obamacare's intention to add tens of millions of new patients to the nation's healthcare system - without adding a single new doctor or other healthcare provider - is that there simply wouldn't be enough physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners to care for everyone.
Moreover, as the patient-to-provider ratio skyrockets, other ill effects of the law would begin to manifest: longer waits for healthcare appointments, increased ER visits, prolonged ER waits and, ultimately, higher costs (because most of the new patients would be "covered" by Medicaid, which has a horrible reimbursement rate that will only get worse under Obamacare), among others.
In addition, provisions of the Affordable Care Act are also forcing private insurers to dump doctors, further putting the lie to Obama's claims that "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." And, of course, the finger-pointing has begun right on cue.
Blaming the wrong people for Obamacare's disastrous fallout
According to the New York Post:
The nation's largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, claims the Affordable Care Act is responsible for forcing it to boot doctors from its Medicare Advantage program that serves thousands of elderly patients in the New York metro region.
CEO Jack Larsen, under fire for separating seniors from their MDs, took out full-page ads to explain that cuts in Medicare spending forced the insurer's hand.
"We are working to collaborate with a more focused network of physicians to help us provide higher quality and more affordable health care coverage to meet the needs of our members, and help them get more from their health plan benefits," Larsen said. "This work has become even more urgent in light of the severe funding reductions for Medicare Advantage plans that have come from Washington."
Ardent Obamacare supporters are even looking into complaints from constituents that elderly patients are unnecessarily being separated from their longtime physicians.
"We've met with New York doctors and we're looking for the best way to ensure seniors maintain access to the doctors they want," said Max Young, a spokesman for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
"We're looking at why United has kicked doctors off their plan, and if their explanations are truthful."
No question, politicians are already hearing from outraged Americans - seniors and otherwise - who are ticked off that they are losing coverage, rates are going up and they can't see their own doctors - all things they were told would never happen under Obamacare.
In New York, the state medical society has even drafted a form letter that is being given to patients in doctors' offices all over the city.
But it blames the wrong entity - insurers.
"The timing of this action seems curious. Insurance companies are taking full advantage of the chaos surrounding the rollout of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Did they think seniors would not be paying attention to this issue while the spotlight was focused on the glitches related to the national health care program?" the protest letter to Congress reads.
Insurance companies are not responsible for having written Obamacare. Congress is responsible, and more specifically, Democrats in Congress (not a single Republican voted for the law).
Insurance companies would never support legislation that makes them lose money or clients. How stupid does that sound?
And yet, they are being blamed for rules they did not create. Washington created them.
How do you like your big nanny government now?
It's amazing to me how Obama and Democrats are being given a pass by millions of Americans, after they were the ones who passed Obamacare and are now responsible for its damage.
They have ruined - or are well into the process of ruining - the nation's healthcare system. They have proven, once again, that Big Government is the wrong prescription for private sector matters.
Imagine what our founding fathers would think of an all-powerful central government deciding which doctors you can and cannot see, which healthcare plans you can and cannot purchase and which insurance deductibles and coverage you must have, or what they would think being told that they have to buy a plan in the first place.
Imagine what they would think of a Congress that shirked its duty and responsibility for passing legislation to an army of unelected bureaucrats controlled by the president.
If the disaster that is Obamacare doesn't convince you that the "problem with healthcare" in America - and just about any other private sector industry - is too much government regulation, then nothing will.
Sources:
http://nypost.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://www.cnn.com
http://www.forbes.com
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