>> That's a false choice...
It isn't a false choice for Medicare/Medicaid patients. And frankly, the situation is worse with Medicaid, where there are simply not enough providers of ANY kind to take care of them because providers are fed up with not being sufficiently compensated for the work they do.
In Arkansas, an OB/GYN is paid a global fee for 5-7 prenatal visits plus a vag delivery a grand total of $1,200. That includes labs, ultrasounds, the works. Think about that. 5-7 office visits, PLUS the delivery, PLUS out of pocket expenses for labs and ultrasound, and you get $1,200? What doctor is going to do this? It just doesn't make financial sense, when Arkansas BCBS pays $2,700 for the same service. That provider also may be paying as much as $300,000/year for malpractice insurance (and like it or not, Medicaid patients subject providers to increased malpractice risk).
I'll admit a lot of physicians are poor businesspeople, but they can afford good consultants. And what we tell clients is to run like hell from Medicaid. |
