More gutting of Medicare Advantage doctor networks. #obamacare

I fail to see why there should be the problem described in this title (“Doctors cut from Medicare Advantage networks struggle with what to tell patients“):

Thousands of primary-care doctors and specialists across the country have been terminated from privately run Medicare Advantage plans, sparking a battle between doctors who say patient care is being threatened and insurers that insist they have to reduce costs and streamline their operations.

Medical associations, which describe the dismissals as the largest in the program’s history, say the cuts are forcing some patients to leave their doctors in mid-treatment and creating gaps in the types of medical specialists covered in some areas.

The answer is very simple: what doctors need to tell their soon-to-be-former patients is that Barack Obama and the Democratic party thought that they collectively had the experience, expertise, and foresight to craft a health care law that would not, among other things, gut Medicare Advantage.

And Barack Obama and the Democratic party turned out to be wrong.

Via

Dear @AmerMedicalAssn Re: your support of Ocare, Way to go. RT Thousands of docs cut from Medicare Advantage plans http://t.co/iJtmpW2JkS

— SheilaKihne (@SheilaKihne) January 26, 2014

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Interestingly, in 2007 the NAACP strongly opposed shallower cuts to Medicare Advantage:

“Reduced funding for the MA program would have a negative impact on the health and health care of millions of Medicare beneficiaries – particularly for low-income and minority beneficiaries,” the letter continued.

“We urge you not to backtrack on these priorities by cutting funding for the MA program. This program is vitally important to the health and well-being of racial and ethnic minorities who rely on MA to provide them with the comprehensive, affordable, and coordinated care they need,” the NAACP letter added.

Then again, Barack Obama was not President in 2007. George W Bush was: he vetoed the legislation. And the Democrat-controlled Congress couldn’t override his veto.

Fancy that.