Should doctors be forced to accept the new public health insurance plan?
Doctors are not forced to accept Medicare now, so I’m not sure why we should go further with the public health insurance plan. While it’s true that new Medicare enrollees can have trouble finding a doctor accepting new patients with Medicare, this is true for patients with private health insurance as well. In fact, it’s harder for patients with private insurance to find doctors than it is for patients with Medicare [pdf]. In fact, 97% of doctors accept Medicare. So, why is it hard to find care? We lack of doctors, especially primary care doctors, in this country. This is a problem that must also be solved, but it won’t be solved by forcing doctors to accept the new public health insurance plan. Should the public health insurance option pay Medicare rates? Not necessarily. Medicare and the VA are both government-run health care plans, and they pay different rates. And in fact, Medicare should pay higher rates for primary care and less for some specialists. By allowing the public health
