While the Clinton administration has been at the forefront in bashing HMOs, its Medicare reform plan would actually extend their restrictive practices to Medicare. A related criticism is that HMOs, through the way they pay physicians, provide doctors with incentives to choose cheaper treatments for their patients. The president wants to give Medicare bureaucrats the power to select primary care physicians for seniors. Medicare would give seniors incentives to choose these doctors. In exchange, participating seniors would forego their right to see other doctors without a referral from their primary care physician.
Politicians can t decide whether they want to make health insurance cheaper or costlier.
Each bill contains regulations that will force health plans to hire additional administrative, legal, and medical personnel and force patients to pay the extra costs. More lawsuits means more uninsured. Even worse, the House version of the patients bill of rights allows more lawsuits and punitive damages for medical malpractice against health plans and employers. The costs of judgments, settlements, and lawyers fees would be passed on to other workers in these health plans, raising everyone s premiums further. Moreover, the risk of litigation will force many businesses to drop their employees health insurance altogether.