More doctors turn to the courts – this time over reimbursement rates
I often write about doctors who turn to the courts when they feel they’ve been wronged. I support them wholeheartedly: Hundreds of thousands of Americans have fought or died to protect the Constitutional right to a jury trial. I do however also like to note that doctors often advocate restricting the rights of injured patients to so. This sort of hypocrisy has been called, “Do as I say, not as I sue.”
A coalition of emergency doctors took the state to court Tuesday over low reimbursement rates for Medi-Cal patients.
In a lawsuit filed against the California Department of Health Care Services, doctors said Medi-Cal payments have remained low during the past 17 years while the cost of providing care has nearly doubled.
The physicians also complained that the number of uninsured and underinsured patients has become untenable due to the closure of 85 hospitals and 55 emergency rooms in the past decade.
In 2007 alone, they provided $100 million in unpaid services, according to the lawsuit.
When I read about low reimbursement rates, the first thing I think is, “If these doctors were being paid what they should, the doctors could afford the medical malpractice rates they complain so much about!”
Then I realize that no matter how much doctors get paid, they’ll always complain about high malpractice insurance rates. It’s human nature.