Wednesday, August 12, 2015

The Doctor Won't See You Now

By Sally Pipes

Only three in ten enrollees in Obamacare’s exchanges report being satisfied with their health coverage, according to a new poll from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.

Among the primary reasons for these poor numbers? Many exchange policies limit patients’ choices of doctors and hospitals in order to keep premiums down in the face of Obamacare’s intrusive regulations and costly mandates.

And with exchange policies poised to grow even more expensive in the coming years, those provider networks will only grow narrower. Patients may find themselves with coverage but without access to care — unless they’re willing to pay the doctor or hospital of their choice vast sums out of pocket.

So much for the “Affordable Care” Act.

According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, nearly one-third of exchange plans have “small networks” — meaning that they include at most 25 percent of the doctors in the area. Another 11 percent of insurance policies had “extra small networks,” which include fewer than 10 percent of area doctors.

Read the rest here.

No comments:

Post a Comment