Physicians Opting Out of Obamacare Plans

An estimated 214,524 American physicians will not be participating in ACA (Obamacare) health plans, according to a large 2014 survey of multi-physician medical practices by the Medical Group Management Association (survey summarized here).  Why?

• ACA's payment rates for services rendered are "financially unsustainable" for physicians.  "[W]here private plans pay $1.00 for a service, Medicare pays $0.80, and [Obamacare] plans are now paying about $0.60."
  
• ACA's high deductibles can leave patients owing thousands of dollars to physicians and hospitals for services rendered—money that doctors need to keep their doors open, but may not be able to collect from patients.
  
• ACA's premiums aren't cheap either, and if a patient stops paying the premiums, Obamacare rules give patients a 90-day grace period to get premiums caught up. If the patient doesn't pay up, Obamacare forces the insurance company to pay physicians and hospitals for any services provided day 1 through 30, but not for services provided from day 31 through 90. Doctors and hospitals are simply left holding the bag. 

With the deck stacked against them, doctors are simply avoiding Obamacare plans. As of January 2014, a estimated 70% of California's 104,000 physicians had already said no to participating in Covered California plans.