Health Reform passed in Senate

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by crescent&pearls

There's nothing simplistic about this issue.

I'd like to see voters start talking about what they really want: health insurance reform. No one seems to be saying they have a problem with the health care they receive from their health care provider. I don't see any health care providers jumping up and down saying "I want to be paid less for the work I do so everyone can have health care!" but I think that's exactly what we're gonna get.

Say goodbye to your favorite health care provider. She's going to start a new career as a house flipper.

Providers are complicit, though, in the rising cost of health care, right?

Part of health insurance reform is breaking the symbiotic (and grossly pernicious, for the consumer) bond between providers and insurers, which results in both sides benefiting from higher costs, which results in increased haggling between both sides for payment, which in results in higher costs, and so on.

For being groups that supposedly don't get along on a day-to-day basis, providers and insurers seem to be on the same side of the lobbying on this issue.

[crescent&pearls]

Yes, they are part of the problem that has to be addressed. Yet have you heard anyone addressing the issue of referral for profit? If your provider tells you you need an MRI, but fails to tell you he/she or his/her medical group owns the MRI imaging center does it make you question whether or not you really need that MRI?

When I was involved in an auto accident last year, my auto insurance had to disclose to me that I could take my car to any facility I chose to have the repairs done. Health insurance doesn't work that way. If we are going to pass reform, why not include a provision that your health insurance company must pay "any willing, licensed provider" in your state...not just the providers that are within their provider panels.

Of course health care providers have relationships with insurance companies. If you have Kaiser, your health care provider is employed by an insurance company. If you have Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross/Shield etc your provider has to agree to those insurance companies "reimbursement" terms in order to get on their "provider panels." If you're an independent provider and don't currently have a "contract" with those major insurers..go try getting approved to accept their plans and see how that works out for you. And keep in mind that providers are not limited to MDs...many ancillary care providers are not represented by big lobbyists in Washington.

Whatever reform we end up with it's not gonna be simple, that's for sure.