There is no such thing as "OBAMACARE" EVERY practice has to take a look and review very carefully ALL plan contracts for the "All products clause". THERE is no Obamacare.
Yup. That is why I said that I was offering my idea with tongue only slightly in cheek. But ...
Yes there is such a thing as Obamacare, or ACA if you prefer. Note the following. This is important for those who don't know about it.
In California, those Carriers participating in the Exchange sent notices to all physicians about accepting ACA patients. I believe the requirement was to opt in, but I'm not absolutely certain of that. At any rate, none of our clients opted in. "Not gonna participate in Obamacare" they all proclaimed. The majority of our clients are non-participating providers anyway, so this doesn't matter for them. But we have a couple of clients who are participating providers for Commercial Carriers.
I have been seeing insurance cards with dental provisions on them recently, so I know that some folks who have been patients for years are switching to getting their insurance through the exchanges (or maybe all plans must now include dental??). At any rate, for the couple of Par Providers, suddenly Blue Cross / Blue Shield has stopped paying for the ACA customers. Inquiries as to why yielded the following answer:
you had a chance to sign up to be a Participating Provider for the ACA folks, and you didn't do that. Therefore, while you are a Par Provider for our regular customers, you are Non-Par for our ACA folks. Because you are Non-Par for them, we are sending payment to the patient, not to you the Provider.I know this will not be true for all of these newly-minted
Obamacare patients, but it will be true for some: they will get the payment from the Insurance Carrier and won't pay the doctor. It is for these patients I suggested a second office, staffed by a lower-cost Nurse Practitioner. Let the NP see all the patients who get the check straight from the Insurance Carrier and won't pay the doctor / NP. Sure-fire way for going out of business.