Sep 10
7
Patient Choices May Narrow As Insurers Adjust To Healthcare Overhaul
The Chicago Tribune (9/5, Japsen) says the federal healthcare overhaul’s focus on quality “implies that consumers will get better care because doctors and hospitals will be measured against the best performers, but there may be an unintended consequence: It could leave patients with fewer choices of medical care providers, depending on which health plans they purchase. … Among measures to ensure quality, the law requires state-regulated health plans, largely those selling policies to individuals and small to medium-size businesses, to spend at least 80% of premium dollars on medical care. That’s squeezing insurers’ profits. As a result, health plans are using the quality measures as a way to scale back choices of doctors and hospitals in certain networks.”
With a similar focus, the Minneapolis Star Tribune (9/5, Yee) says the White House “is hoping that the measures will help quell critics of the healthcare law, turning it from a promise and an abstraction in people’s minds to a program with real-life benefits. Many of the looming fixes address items that have infuriated consumers about their health insurance over the years. In addition to allowing all kids to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26, the new provisions include preventing insurers from denying coverage to sick kids, gradually closing the doughnut hole that leaves a gap in seniors’ drug coverage, and doing away with caps on annual and lifetime medical costs.”