Yes, but going electronic meant things were cheaper for them, and THEY’D save money. You can’t expect these companies to just settle for double-dipping, can you? What kind of commie are you?
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Our family practice physician sold his practice to the local hospital because of the excessive paperwork that required additional personnel and more time on the part of the physicians to help process it. The hospital now handles all of the insurance paper work. We find the doctors have more time for us and also appear less stressed.
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You do know who owns all the practices, right? Private equity firms. They found an overbilling and collections gold mine. No matter if the bills are correct, just bleed us dry. Now I understand the French Reign of Terror.
It does save money, but they just can’t resist putting their hand in the till to get their taste. It’s sad that an obvious efficiency can’t be effectively adopted because of greed, and the money that flows through our political system to achieve it.
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The insurance companies love this. Remember, their premiums are regulated at healthcare costs they pay out plus y% administrative costs of theirs plus x% profit. Every dollar added to healthcare costs (for provider-paid EFT fees then built into provider charges or paperwork or whatever) results in x% more profit for the insurance companies–without their lifting a finger. They may say they care about high healthcare costs. It’s all eyewash.
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For a brief period when I was young, when I went to the doctor, I just paid the doctor. When our first child was born, we paid the doctors, and we paid the hospital. Then there was a panic about the cost of health care, and everyone needed insurance. Then the minor leeches and other bloodsuckers came out of the woodwork, with lobbyists and bullshit about efficiencies. And here we are.
Was it not enough for insurance companies that electronic payments are cheaper and more efficient for them, and they could pocket those savings? Of course not, because “payment processors” could throw in kickbacks. Greed knows no bounds, and has no principles.
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Wrong. More physicians are Democrats, but the richer ones (surgeons, procedural specialists) tend to be Republicans. Primary care physicians, mental health specialists, pediatricians are much more likely to be Democrats
I suspect most of them, especially the orthopedists and similar highly paid, procedure code -centric docs, while they might be OK with Medicare for All as a concept are scared to death of Medicare Reimbursement Rates for All.
Source for your information, please?
When you want a meaningful change in the health care systems, demand Universal Health Care. Not Medicare for All, not expanding Medicare and Medicaid to younger populations or older. Not multiple, tiered health care, not “managed health care.”
Universal Health Care. Every doc I respect, over the course of 30 years, has personally worked hard to promote Universal Health Care. When you talk to your State and Federal representatives and Senators, make this demand. Tell them why. And, of course, throw in Mental Health Care for all, reproductive rights for all, gun control, and health care for every person who lives in this country, whether a citizen or not.
Thank you!
You may have to go to a medical practitioner to get your sarcasm detector recalibrated 
It sounds like the doctors have a legit complaint. I often get paid by clients with payment service companies that take a certain percentage of the payments I receive… It sucks. But I have no power to reverse it.
But doctors do, sort of. They have a lobby, but the insurance companies have a stronger lobby. So now, having failed to get a positive response, They are belatedly informing the general public, which they could have done earlier. I suspect the doctor’s lobbyists were not too sure they wanted to align themselves with a more progressive public, or good government groups, or senior advocacy groups like the AARP, in order to do battle with the insurance companies.
I would be happy to rally to the doctor’s defense against the insurance companies, if they will just come out and publicly ask for it.