- More than 214,000 doctors refuse to participate in the new plans under PPACA according to a new survey by Medical Group Management Association.
- That is about 25% of the total number of 893,851 active physicians.
- Back in January, as many as 70% of California physicians were estimated to be outside of the State's PPACA Exchange.
Why don't physicians want to participate in Obamacare? Reimbursements are simply too low to be profitable - they are even lower than Medicare reimbursements, which are already significantly below market rates.
- It is estimated that where private plans pay $1 for a service, Medicare pays 80 cents, and
- ACA exchange plans are now paying about 60 cents, a study by the think-tank American Action Forum finds.
- 75% of ACA patients that had seen doctors had chosen plans with high deductibles. Given that most of the patients are low-income, doctors are concerned that the patients cannot meet the deductibles and they will get stuck with the bill.
- HHS requires that insurers cover customers for an additional 90 days after they have stopped paying their premiums:
- the insurer covers the first 30 - but, it's up to the doctor to recoup payment for the last 60 days.
- Currently, about a million people have failed to pay their premiums and had their plans canceled.
