Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As More Insurance Costs Shift To Workers, Doctors Put In Awkward Position Of Collecting From Patients
“If they have to decide if they’re going to pay their rent or the rest of our bill, they’re definitely paying their rent,” said Gerald “Ray” Callas, president of the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists. “We try to work with the patient, but on the other hand, we can’t do it for free because we still maintain a small business.”
Bloomberg: Doctors Are Fed Up With Being Turned Into Debt Collectors
Doctors, hospitals and medical labs used to be concerned about patients who didn’t have insurance not paying their bills. Now they’re scrambling to get paid by the ones who do have insurance. For more than a decade, insurers and employers have been shifting the cost of care onto their workers and customers, tamping down premiums by raising patients’ out-of-pocket costs. Last year, almost half of privately insured Americans under age 65 had annual deductibles ranging from $1,300 to as high as $6,550, government data show. (Dodge, 11/15)
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