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7 Out of 10 California Docs Boycott ObamaCare

Posted By Daniel Greenfield On December 6, 2013 @ 6:47 pm In The Point | 18 Comments

I blame racism. Or cynicism. Or some kind of ism. Any kind of ism… except the liberalism that is really responsible.

An estimated seven out of every 10 physicians in deep-blue California are rebelling against the state’s Obamacare health insurance exchange and won’t participate, the head of the state’s largest medical association said.

“It doesn’t surprise me that there’s a high rate of nonparticipation,” said Dr. Richard Thorp, president of the California Medical Association.

California offers one of the lowest government reimbursement rates in the country — 30 percent lower than federal Medicare payments. And reimbursement rates for some procedures are even lower.

In other states, Medicare pays doctors $76 for return-office visits. But in California, Medicare’s reimbursement is $24, according to Dr. Theodore M. Mazer, a San Diego ear, nose and throat doctor.

In other states, doctors receive between $500 to $700 to perform a tonsillectomy. In California, they get $160, Mazer added.

Only in September did insurance companies disclose that their rates would be pegged to California’s Medicaid plan, called Medi-Cal. That’s driven many doctors to just say no.

If you like your good health plan… too bad. You’re about to trade it for a very expensive bad apple junk Medicaid plan that no doctor outside Oakland wants to take.


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