The Aug. 21 article by Employees Author Joe Lawlor (“Hidden expenses, denied claims,” Web page A1) shines a light-weight on how complicated and irritating medical billing is on this nation, and the way it impacts Maine folks.
From shock expenses corresponding to “facility charges” and denial of claims, to insurance coverage corporations not overlaying drugs or procedures that physicians prescribe, the poignant tales of Maine folks spotlight simply how damaged our system is.
Lots of the fixes enacted thus far – from the Inexpensive Care Act to pricing transparency legal guidelines – have made restricted enhancements. However all go away in place an inherent flaw: the concept that a market-based strategy, which permits a couple of to revenue from folks needing well being care, will work.
In our present, overly complicated system, a number of for-profit gamers search to maximise their earnings, and one of many methods they do that is by limiting the quantity they pay out for care as a lot as doable. In the meantime, sufferers and suppliers are trapped in a maze of networks, plans, declare denials and billing practices which are murky at finest.
We’ve been attempting the market-based strategy for many years – how’s it working? We pay extra for well being care than another developed nation, with worse outcomes. Persons are spending valuable time and vitality coping with the madness of medical billing; physicians are burning out, and sufferers and suppliers alike are dropping confidence in a system all of us depend on.
lt’s time to take the revenue out of well being care and select a simplified, publicly financed system that covers everybody and saves cash.
Karen Foster
chair, board of administrators, Maine AllCare
Portland
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