ObamaCare Shunts My Patients Into Medicaid
Knocked out of private insurance, they are forced to settle for longer waits and worse care
Rep. Scott Garrett Take a minute to read this eyeopening article about ObamaCare written by Dr. Jeffrey Singer, a general surgeon in Phoenix, Ariz.
His take: “Even if my patients save money by no longer paying premiums, they suffer in the long run by being trapped in a subpar health-care system [Medicaid]… ObamaCare has shifted—and will continue to shift—people into substandard and often-delayed care, all in the name of increasing health-care “coverage.” That is the saddest irony of all.”
By JEFFREY A. SINGER
Oct. 20, 2014 7:12 p.m. ET
90 COMMENTS
Thirty years of experience in private medical practice uncovers many ironies. For example, recently several of my patients who had been paying for their own individual health insurance informed me that they were forced off private insurance and placed into Medicaid when they signed up for health care at Healthcare.gov. This unwanted change—built into ObamaCare with the intention of helping patients—has harmed them by taking away their freedom to choose a health-care plan that works best for them.
This is not an unusual phenomenon. A recent Boston University/Harvard Medical School study suggests that up to 80% of people participating in ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion have been shifted off their private insurance. These patients’ plans—that they liked, and were told they could keep—did not meet Affordable Care Act requirements, and were wiped out. Healthcare.gov offered them Medicaid.
But the irony doesn’t stop there. Even if my patients save money by no longer paying premiums, they suffer in the long run by being trapped in a subpar health-care system. A Medicaid card does not translate into quality medical care. In some cases, it does not translate into medical care at all.
https://online.wsj.com/articles/jeffrey-a-singer-obamacare-shunts-my-patients-into-medicaid-1413846762
