The most common proposal I have heard for government-funded single payor health care is something along the lines of “Medicare for all.” The clear implication from this, for physicians, is that all patients would be reimbursed at the same rate. While you would think this is a good thing, I expect that many doctors would fight it tooth and nail. For a ED group that is well-managed and has a good payor mix, they would face a potential 20% loss in gross revenue (an even larger loss of personal income). Most every group above the median would probably come off worse. Many inner-city groups with poor payor mixes would see an improvement in their incomes, but many of these groups already have governmental subsidies (i.e. for teaching resident physicians).
Update:
Link fixed.
Related posts:
- A single-payer compromise?
- Single-payer: Is the ivory tower this naive?
- Single-payer and the Indian Health Service
- Primary care as a loss leader
- Taking on the single-payer zealots
- Single-payer in Sweden: A cautionary tale
- Single payer: The assault continues
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Would you update the link for Shadowfax? The link you have goes to a WP article about SARS & bird flu.
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