The nation's most prominent doctors group almost dropped its opposition to Medicare-for-all

[applegrove]

The nation’s most prominent doctors group almost dropped its opposition to Medicare-for-all

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/12/18662722/ama-medicare-for-all-single-payer-vote-2020

Dylan Scott at Vox

"SNIP.....


In a striking vote at its annual meeting this week, the American Medical Association’s policymaking arm nearly voted to overturn the physician group’s longstanding opposition to single-payer health care.

The House of Delegates, which sets the policy priorities and positions for the nation’s best-known medical association, voted on a resolution to reverse the organization’s opposition to single-payer. The vote failed, but narrowly: 47 percent voted to eliminate opposition to single-payer as an official policy position of the AMA, while 53 percent voted to maintain it.

We shouldn’t overinterpret one procedural vote at a professional conference, of course. But the vote does signal two important trends for the Medicare-for-all debate:

Single-payer continues to gain real momentum, even within the industry that would be significantly overhauled under such a system.Medical industry opposition might not be as monolithic as it first appears.

.....SNIP"

[genxlib]

1. I can't imagine the Doctors are happy with insurance these days

I pull my hair out when I have to deal with the a few times a year. I can't imagine dealing with them everyday.

It seems to be getting worse. My insurance program is nominally a good one. However, it is so complex that it is impossible to know what the charges will be on any given invoice. When I get the report after the fact, it seems completely arbitrary. Never mind that I have different tiers where I am responsible for all/some/none of the invoice. It is maddening.

The net result is that the Doctors don't know what to charge when I walk in. They have to submit it to insurance and wait to see what my shared cost is supposed to be. Which means they are always chasing payments months after the service and that is on an amount that has been drastically cut down.

Maybe I am naive but if I were a Doctor, I would prefer to work with one big payer that I could understand and trust to be consistent.

Incidentally, I believe a big chunk of remaining resistance would disappear overnight if the proposal included a bump in the reimbursement levels. I know this would compound the question of paying for it. But i think it is an inevitable requirement to get enough Doctors into the system to cover the load.