Weekend Economists Thanksgiving Leftovers November 29-30, 2014

[Demeter]

10. GOP May Thwart Obamacare's Huge Pay Raise For Doctors

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2014/11/29/gop-may-thwart-obamacares-huge-pay-raise-for-doctors/

A huge pay raise under the Affordable Care Act for primary care doctors who treat the nation’s poor covered by Medicaid health insurance is set to expire at the end of the year. And with Republicans taking control of the U.S. Senate and retaining a majority in the U.S. House, maintaining the reimbursement increase is in doubt come January.

“Unless Congress acts to extend and fund this provision, Medicaid’s sudden return to disparate and inadequate payment for primary care services will again shut out people who have come to know and depend on their primary care physicians,” said Dr. Robert Wergin, President of the American Academy of Family Physicians

Under the health law, a primary care doctor – a family physician, a pediatrician or an internist – who treats Medicaid patients has been reimbursed to the generally higher level of the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly for scores of primary care services but only for 2013 and this year. By most estimates, this meant a payment increase of 60 percent or more to the Medicare payment rate. One idea behind the pay increase was to get more doctors to accept Medicaid patients and prevent other physicians from dropping out of a government program that hasn’t historically been well funded through a mix of state and federal tax dollars. Supporters of the law also hoped the new formula, funded with federal dollars from the ACA, would get more doctors to accept Medicaid patients just as the health law expands health insurance to millions more Medicaid beneficiaries who need a primary care physician. Because many doctors are paid by private health plans like Aetna AET +0.38% (AET), Centene (CNC), Humana HUM +0.35% (HUM) and UnitedHealth Group UNH +0.53% (UNH), the insurance industry and its provider networks could also be impacted.

The family doctors including others like the American College of Physicians, are urging Congress to pass the “Ensuring Access to Primary Care for Women & Children Act,” which has been introduced by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, and U.S. Rep Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat.

“This legislation maintains Medicaid payment for primary care services at least at Medicare rates and would enable primary care physicians to continue expanding the number of Medicaid patients they can accept,” Wergin added. “Further, to date it enabled family physicians to add employees and infrastructure needed to accommodate newly insured, vulnerable patients. Without this legislation, Medicaid payment will plunge to 2012 levels — as much as 63 percent lower in some states — and force practices to accept devastating financial losses or to decline additional Medicaid patients seeking care.”

WELL, THAT DIDN'T TAKE LONG...OBAMACARE WAS DESIGNED TO SELF-DESTRUCT! WHAT A POS POTUS WE HAVE!

AND MEDICAID, THE RED-HAIRED STEPCHILD OF GOVERNMENT SAFETY NETS, IS BACK TO LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE WITH NO DADDY WARBUCKS.....