Mayo Clinic: Patients with private insurance get priority

[Jimbo101]

ARS Technica

Mayo Clinic, one of the country's top hospitals, is in the midst of controversy after its CEO said that the elite medical facility would prioritize the care of patients with private health insurance over those with Medicare and Medicaid.

The prioritization by the Rochester, MN-headquartered medical practice was recently revealed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune. And it has quickly drawn out some sharp critics—as well as sympathizers.

In a statement to the Minnesota Post Bulletin, Dr. Gerard Anderson, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management, compared the prioritization to policies seen in developing countries. "This is what happens in many low-income countries. The health system is organized to give the most affluent preference in receiving health care,” he wrote.

Likewise, Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper, expressed surprise and concern by the statements of Mayo’s CEO, Dr. John Noseworthy. "Fundamentally, it's our expectation at DHS that Mayo Clinic will serve our enrollees in public programs on an equal standing with any other Minnesotan that walks in their door," she said. "We have a lot of questions for Mayo Clinic about how and if and through what process this directive from Dr. Noseworthy is being implemented across their health system."

Specifically, Noseworthy said in a video to Mayo employees late last year:

"We’re asking… if the patient has commercial insurance, or they’re Medicaid or Medicare patients and they’re equal, that we prioritize the commercial insured patients enough so… we can be financially strong at the end of the year."

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. So - only Dr.'s swear to uphold the hippocratic oath...hospitals

swear to the almighty dollar!!!

[Alice11111]

3. I've been to the Mayo Clinic. It is fabulous. Heartbreaking

With the insurance companies sucking off the money at both ends...from the patients and the doctors, it will only get worse. The obvious solution is to get rid of the mafia middle man, here, the health insurance companies, like the rest of the civilized world.

[Hoyt]

5. 4500 employed physicians are in on this too.

[JenniferJuniper]

2. The AMA Song - from 1963 (!)

We are the nation's physicians
Yes, we give aid to our lobbies every day
We will fight against disease when the money comes with ease
And when we get together we say

Hooray for A.M.A.!
And for us doctors lots of higher pay
If you can't afford my bill don't you tell me that you're ill
'Cause that's the free enterprise way

We've divided up the sections of the body
Every day we specialize more and more
But we really love to stitch the diseases of the rich
We are sure there is a clinic for the poor

Hooray for the A.M.A
And for us doctors lots of higher pay
If you can't afford my bill don't you tell me that you're ill
'Cause that's the free enterprise way

And our waiting rooms are getting pretty crowded
It is sad to see our patients sit and bleed
But if you must use our ointment then you must have an appointment
Or who'll pay for those magazines you read

Hooray for the A.M.A
And for us doctors lots of higher pay, higher pay
If you can't afford my bill don't you tell me that you're ill
'Cause that's the free enterprise way

And now the government is getting too ambitious
Yes, we know they want to socialize us all
Well our oath was Hippocratic but with money we're fanatic
So we'll see you in Canada in the fall

Hooray for the A.M.A.
And for us doctors lots of higher pay
If you can't afford my bill don't you tell me that you're ill
'Cause that's the free enterprise way

Phil Ochs

[liberalhistorian]

4. Like this is, or should be, any kind of real

surprise. Most hospitals and clinics do this, the Mayo CEO is just actually being upfront about it. It should not be a shock at all to anyone who's spent five minutes in any hospital that profit and financial gain, and not equal medical care for all, is the primary priority. This is what you get when you have a for-profit health care system, which should never even exist in the first place.

I grew up in Cleveland and spent a good part of my adulthood there and the Cleveland Clinic is ALL about profit and finances. That is ALL they care about. You go two blocks from the Clinic Complex and you will be in a neighborhood where no one is getting through the Clinic doors unless they're emptying the bedpans, washing the sheets, gowns and towels, cooking, serving and cleaning up after the meals, emptying garbage bins and mopping floors, or wheeling patients around and cleaning up after them. I don't give a shit WHAT the clinic itself says in its glossy fancy-pants advertising brochures put out by its multi-million-dollar advertising and PR team, that is the true reality. And University Hospitals isn't much better.