Insurers and Employers, Not Government, Limiting Choice of Doctors

[lame54]

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/insurers-and-employers-limiting-choice-of-doctors
Insurers and Employers, Not Government, Limiting Choice of Doctors
By Jon Perr Sunday Jul 18, 2010 6:00pm

During the heated debate over health care reform, President Obama repeatedly insisted that under his proposal, "you can keep your doctor." But the President was also careful to add the important caveat, "what I'm saying is the government is not going to make you change plans under health reform." Which is exactly right. But by shifting costs to employees or dropping coverage altogether, American employers for years have been limiting workers' ability to choose which doctor - if any - they can see. And now, as the New York Times reports, private insurers are increasingly making that choice for them.

In his September 2009 address to Congress, President Obama made this commitment:

"First, if you are among the hundreds of millions of Americans who already have health insurance through your job, Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have. Let me repeat this: nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have."

Not the government. But as the Times reported Sunday, insurance companies and the employers who purchase coverage from them are another matter altogether. Initially targeting cost-conscious smaller businesses which already provide insurance to their employees, "the country's biggest insurers are promoting affordable plans with reduced premiums that require participants to use a narrower selection of doctors or hospitals."

But large employers, as well, are starting to show some interest, and insurers and consultants expect that, over time, businesses of all sizes will gravitate toward these plans in an effort to cut costs.

The tradeoff, they say, is that more Americans will be asked to pay higher prices for the privilege of choosing or keeping their own doctors if they are outside the new networks. That could come as a surprise to many who remember the repeated assurances from President Obama and other officials that consumers would retain a variety of health-care choices.

If this erroneous criticism sounds familiar, it should. Last summer, health insurance groups and their Republican front men trotted out industry-funded reports to warn of the chaos passage would bring, bogus claims dutifully reported by ABC News and others. As Karl Rove parroted the thoroughly debunked talking point, "The Lewin Group estimates 70% of people with private insurance -- 120 million Americans -- will quickly lose what they now get from private companies and be forced onto the government-run rolls as businesses decide it is more cost-effective for them to drop coverage."

Of course, dropping coverage and limiting choice of doctors has been underway for years, just not by the government...

[drm604]

1. K&R

:kick:

[lame54]

2. .

[dkf]

3. Which is why Obama's hanging health coverage on health insurance is a sham.

We're a bunch of fools.