Patients without Doctors: The Flawed Plan of Governor Schwarzenegger

American Thinker: Patients without Doctors: The Flawed Plan of Governor Schwarzenegger: “California physician participation in Medi-Cal is the lowest of any State-sponsored program in the United States. Medi-Cal payments to California physicians rank 49th in the country. The rates are based on 1969 data, with only a single increase in 20 years. Because Medi-Cal reimbursement is often less than the cost of keeping a doctor’s office open during the visit (e.g., $24 for a consultation with a Breast Cancer Surgeon, $253 for a two-hour breast-preserving cancer operation and 90 days of care that follows), accepting Medi-Cal destroys the viability of California medical practices. In order to keep their doors open, the vast majority of California doctors must refuse or severely limit the number of Medi-Cal patients they accept. Under the current system, nearly 60% of patients in the Medi-Cal program report significant difficulty finding a doctor. Wait times are long, particularly for specialists and mental health professionals.”

There is no free lunch. If they pay less than what is required for medical offices to make a profit they cannot and will not not keep subsidizing these people. If you force them to treat people below their costs they will go out of business or hire less trained nurse practitioners and the doctors will go elsewhere. You will then have patients without real doctors and substandard medical care. The moral of the story is that a steroid popping body builder is not likely to come up with any safe and sound solition to medical care.