Physician Praveen Arla is witnessing a reversal of health care fortunes: Poor, long-uninsured patients are getting Medicaid through Obamacare and finally coming to his office for care. But middle-class workers are increasingly staying away.
"It's flip-flopped," says Arla, who helps his father run a family practice in Hillview, Ky. Patients with job-based plans, he says, will say: " 'My deductible is so high. I'm trying to come to the doctor as little as possible. … What is the minimum I can get done?' They're really worried about cost."
It's a deep and common concern across the USA, where employer plans cover 60% of working-age Americans, or about 150 million people. Coverage long considered the gold standard of health insurance now often requires workers to pay so much out-of-pocket that many feel they must skip doctor visits, put off medical procedures, avoid filling prescriptions and ration pills — much as the uninsured have done.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Middle class ? It's gone!
ReplyDeleteWhat the Obamacre advocates don't understand is that health insurance does not equate to health care!
ReplyDeleteRedistibution of wealth (Communism 101). Time for "Atlas Shrugged".
ReplyDeleteThis was predicted looong ago....people still voted Dumbocrat - and are now seeing the results of their votes.
ReplyDeleteThey new legislature will be able to get parts of this fixed - the stuff everyone agrees with...like medical device tax....then we'll see who the real obstructionist in chief is!
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteWhat the Obamacre advocates don't understand is that health insurance does not equate to health care!
January 5, 2015 at 8:51 AM"
This is what I've been saying since Day 1. Unfortunately Obama supporters and democrats in general are of a lower intellect level and it's beyond their comprehension.
They talk about how the new higher deductibles will make patients shop better for their services. That's hard to do when most insurances have "preferred" facilities for labs and xrays. So that's about the only place you can go and be covered by your insurance. It doesn't matter much what they charge, if that's where they tell you to go.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to rationing my family's medical care, I have more taxes to pay for those who have free healthcare. Great system we got going here.
ReplyDelete