Most of the talk about the Affordable Care Act has focused on website glitches and skyrocketing premiums but there are other issues looming on the horizon for the healthcare overhaul. Hospital coverage.
If consumers expect to have (or continue to have) access to the best medical services at the nations top hospitals, they are in for a rude awakening. “Most of the top hospitals will accept insurance from just one or two companies operating under Obamacare.”
Because the ACA caps premiums, insurers will be have to offer less money to the nations best doctors and hospitals. In return, the hospitals will simply refuse to accept those insurance plans.
The Cleveland Clinic is one such example. “The Cleveland Clinic accepts dozens of insurance plans if you buy one on your own. But go through Obamacare and you have just one choice: Medical Mutual of Ohio.”
The situation is the same in California. Cedars-Sinai will only have one Obamacare company in its network.
“Many companies have selectively entered the exchanges because they are concerned that (the exchanges) will be dominated by risky, high-using populations who wanted insurance (before Obamacare) and couldn’t afford it,” said [Gail] Wilsensky [former Medicare advisor for the Bush Administration], who is also on the board of directors of UnitedHealth. “They are pressed to narrow their networks to stay within the premiums.”
The hospital situation is confusing for consumers of Obamacare coverage. Most plans do not list the insurance companies on their website and they do not provide names of hospitals or doctors, so there is no way of knowing if the best services are even available.
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