subject: Doctors and Patients Alike : Obamacare Approval is Behind, The Citizens Are Anxious [print this page] Barely last month, the public weighed in on the only just implemented healthcare reform; Obamacare, as it's identified. Several have hailed the change in policy as socialist; some have called it much worse. Merely about half the country's residents supported the reform, as of last month. Now, it has dropped another 7 percent, to 43 percent. Opposition to the reform showed nearly a 10 percent increase. Also, these same people said responded that healthcare was one of their top 5 reasons disturbing their vote in the next midterm vote. What does that mean? People who were unconcerned before are rallying to the rival. Many people are a little put off by these statistics since many were assuming that, as more benefits to the plan became available, public approval of the program would ascend concurrently. This was even one of the main selling points on the program - which the public would approve once full benefits were realized; a stance they are surely still taking since the plan won't be fully implemented for a few more years now.
Another dilemma; Health insurers are making it no secret that they intend to hike up premiums. This may throw a wrench in some politician's plans on re-election. BlueCross BlueShield is one carrier who has requested to raise premiums by 1% to almost 10%! These hikes will fall mainly on individual policy holders, which make up a mere 9% of all policies in the U.S. All in all, after rates are increased due to the many reasons they are being raised, some people will see up to or beyond a 20% raise.
Who is going to be hit hardest by the healthcare changes? Smaller insurers will be doing very well to stay afloat in this volatile time period, and many are expected to fail. The health care industry Is expected to grow to around 20% of the economy. Another issue facing smaller brokers will be the availability of a web-exclusive insurance forum that will outline pros, cons, and even quality of policies. While this may benefit the consumer, it takes away from the potential earnings of an insurance agent.
How this is affecting doctors looks positive in the short-term, but the long-term looks choppy. More insured patients mean more patients, which of course mean more work, and more services rendered. However as the healthcare market is now, a physician who deals with only private insurance patients makes exponentially more money per year (and I'm talking up to hundreds of thousands more) than a physician who only deals primarily with Medicare/Medicaid patients. Expanding Medicare/Medicaid coverage to 32 million citizens will bolster the available work for physicians, but as with anything that is subsidized by the government, the reimbursement rates will be nowhere near that of private insurance plans.
The budding consensus between citizens and physicians alike is a dread of elevated costs and decreased quality. Physicians may have to work harder to maintain their current salaries and clinics and hospitals are going to have a larger influx of patients, not to mention the large sector of physicians of the baby boom generation who will be retiring soon.
Doctors and Patients Alike : Obamacare Approval is Behind, The Citizens Are Anxious
