Obamacare Reality Check: Gov. Sets Doctor Pay

3 SEC. 223. PAYMENT RATES FOR ITEMS AND SERVICES.

4 (a) RATES ESTABLISHED BY SECRETARY.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish

6 payment rates for the public health insurance option

7 for services and health care providers…

From Page 121 of H.R. 3200

Health care reform bill, H.R. 3200, will grant to a bureaucrat the power to set rates at which doctors are paid under the public option.

Today, bureaucrats set the rates for doctor pay from Medicare. The New York Times reports that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find a doctor that accepts Medicare payments. Doctors believe, according to an article written in April, that the rates are too low and paperwork too much of a hassle.

If doctors are able to maintain the right to opt out of a government-controlled public option, then Americans who choose government insurance will face the same problems that some seniors are facing now with Medicare—they will have trouble finding a doctor. If government requires doctors to accept lower paying public option-patients, then wages will fall and it will be less profitable for intelligent young people to put in the time and work to attend medical school to become a doctor. The result? Fewer doctors because of government price controls on wages.  That means fewer medical services to go around–resulting in more rationing.

 

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