California doctors are going to lose a lot of money.
Emergency physician Shadowfax analyzes the recent California decision that bans balance billing. Calling it “a disaster in the making,” he writes that removing the option to directly bills patients removes the leverage physicians have when negotiating with insurance companies. Namely, the option to stop accepting insurance.
Without this option, doctors “have to accept whatever pittance the insurer pays as full payment. But the doctors can no longer negotiate with insurers either, since they no longer have any credible leverage to demand reasonable payment for their services, so they wind up having to accept whatever pittance the insurer offers.”
He starkly points out, “You might as well just go to single payer,” which will surely delight many policy makers in California.
I have written previously that the most powerful card doctors have is the ability to opt out of insurance. No doubt, there are those who would like to remove that option and effectively force physicians to acquiesce to the whims of the government and health insurers.
That’s the reason why physicians need to do all they can to protect that choice.
