Many say health insurance policies are creating nightmares for physicians and hazards for their patients. The Health Insurance Industry may be running off good doctors .Dr. James Pinckney, Founder and CEO of Diamond Physicians , a Direct Primary Care Practice, says, ”We have a huge physician shortage currently and it’s going to get worse over the next few decades. Fifty per cent of doctors right now want out of medicine and would not become a doctor if they had it to do over again.” Why are doctors thinking about leaving their practices? “Because of the bureaucracy and hoops we have to jump through to bill insurance claims!” says Pinckney.
Researchers with Aimed Alliance found 87% of the 600 doctors they surveyed say patients' conditions have grown worse because of insurance red tape regulation and as many worry their patients suffer prolonged pain. “It’s unfortunate because the insurance system was set up to help patients pay for health care --- and all it does now for primary care is inflate the costs and delay treatments” commented Pinckney. With insurance systems, he says he has seen patients' bills go up - and their health quality go down - and this is across the country.
“In this country, we spend almost 18 per cent of our Gross National Product on healthcare --- that’s 3.2 TRILLION dollars – but we don’t have the best outcomes.”