Comments on: Refuse Medicaid patients, get sued

By: Jodes HOLICH

Jodes HOLICH — Wed, 09 May 2012 00:05:01 +0000

Requiring doctors to take Medicaid patients and then paying them little or nothing at all is ridiculous! I don’t work for for nothing and no one should. These are highly trained professional people who probably owe hundreds of thousands of $ in education loans which are never forgiven plus the upkeep of the office,etc. really the blame is with the state Medicaid Medicare program. Why don’t they get their stuff together and pay on time and maybe the doctors won’t take exception to these patients. And quit belly aching! I have insurance and still have to pay large copays everytime I walk into an office. 675.00 on an MRI which I needed. No one helps me. If the state doesn’t change no doctor will accept u for any but emergency reasons. Which is being abused already coming into the er for a ” sore throat” or ” cold symptoms” really you can blame the fellow Medicaid patients for abuse of the symptoms. It’s emergency room not take advantage cause I don’t have to pay.use your head.

By: Danial Kleczka

Danial Kleczka — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:34:19 +0000

Yes, I was seeing my doctor of 7 years, I lost my job, I paid cash for my monthly visits, when I got Medicaid she told me she could no longer see me as a patient because I was on medicaid, she would no longer accept my cash payments. I have now been without medical care for 4 months, but I have Medicaid!

By: Vanessa Smith

Vanessa Smith — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:34:13 +0000

WALGREENS TAKECARE CLINIC WONT TAKE MY MEDICAID, OR MY MONEY!!!!!!
I liked the low cost and convenience of the TakeCare clinic at a Spring Hill, Fl Walgreens, until my most recent experience that is. I have Medicaid, but they dont accept it, so on 2 visits I paid the $60 for the convenience and in so doing thought I was saving the state Medicaid system (and the Taxpayers) a huge hospital bill too. My sons newly assigned Medicaid Dr (the health dept voicemail!!) was unavailable so When I brought my son to the New Port Richey Walgreens TakeCare clinic for a bad ear infection, I signed in and waited an hour, since they were out to lunch. Upon return the Nurse did her intake interview and discovered he had Medicaid, and then refused to treat him, stating that “it would be fraud to accept cash from someone who is medically needy and receiving medicaid benefits”. I called corporate who verified that this is in fact their policy.
Fraud? Isn’t it discrimination to refuse to treat a group of people based on their economic status, or the fact that they have medicaid? I understand they dont take medicaid (they are working on that) but why wont they let Medicaid recipients pay cash for a clinic visit? Its not like they are billing patients and Medicaid at the same time, they simply wont treat you unless you withhold the fact that you have Medicaid, even if your willing to pay cash for your visit. I am going to talk to a lawyer about this. Has anyone else had this experience?

By: SoHereIsAName

SoHereIsAName — Mon, 04 May 2009 01:50:21 +0000

I am curious as to why Joseph(may 2, 2009 6:43pm) thinks his regular doctor is to blame in any way. This is completely the fault of your medicaid. Medicaid in many states absolutely flat-out requires referal from the ‘PCP’ or they WILL NOT PAY for service provided. Only exception is ER and labor/delivery which are under EMTALA. I assume Doctor’s Care is an urgent care(therefore not under EMTALA) and therefore would NOT GET PAID 1 penny for your son’s care unless you were going to pay for it. So blame Medicaid, not your doctor who just chose to not work for free. I doubt you do.

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sun, 03 May 2009 00:43:03 +0000

I know their pain. My son went to Doctors Care today for stitches in his thumb after slicing it on a garden statue. After 40 minutes of waiting in the back treatment rooms, they come in and tell us they won’t treat him because they aren’t his PCP and they need his dr.’s authorization. Well his dr’s office is closed on the weekends, and it didn’t warrant a trip to the ER. Well we ended up going to the ER anyway and after the screwed us around we lost an hour of treatment time. This is in SC not IL, so it’s nice to see no matter what state you live in, some dr’s offices are the same. I will be filing suit against this dr’s office, and I hope the state of SC yanks their medicaid privledges.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:46:07 +0000

Perhaps Illinois is a “hell hole” because patients get injured and the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation do not discipline the bad doctors. Actually, it is very difficult for injured patients to successfully sue a doctor because the AMA and other professional organizations (such as the AAOS) intimidate plaintiff patients’ doctors from testifying against the defendant doctor. The AMA (and groups like AAOS) consider the doctors’ testimony against defendant doc to be “practicing medicine”!!!

So who exactly protects the patients (esp in Ill and esp at Carle Clinic)? And where is the accountability for horrible physician errors and bad doctors?

http://advocateyourself.blogspot.com

By: Ariel

Ariel — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:19:52 +0000

I am a fresh primary care resident from Chicago. The current situation in Illinois is a joke for physicians. Not only do they have the most ridiculous lawsuit hell in the entire country, but as long as they prefer to “mandate” that we treat people for free rather than giving us some incentives, I am not even considering practicing here.

Going to Wisconsin for now. As soon as I am able, I will open a cash-based practice, or, if worst comes to worst I might return to my old job as fitness instructor. A big gym in the south have offered me 80K to be a fitness doc at their facillity. Work 8-4, Frodays and weekends off. No medicare, medicaid, insurance looters or ambualnce chasers.
yes, I would be insane to not consider it.

Politicans have messed up healthcare badly and obama will probably make it even worse by “mandating” more. Not working for free anymore. Politicans, what about trashing those lawschool diplomas of yours and getting a real job?

By: Anony-mouse

Anony-mouse — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:06:02 +0000

Sympatheticdoc, I sincerely hope your suit against Carle is successful, and your career is long and fulfilling. I admire your integrity.

By: sympatheticdoc

sympatheticdoc — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:20:51 +0000

In response to Smapp07, this is not the fault of the doctors. I am a specialist who moved my whole family to go work at Carle, and found their administration to be despicable. Doctors have absolutely no control over reimbursement. Doctors, even in private practice, cannot set prices for reimbursement. Insurers are in charge of this whether they are private or public aid. The Carle Clinic Association and Carle Foundation Hospital ARE a monopoly, and there are many more problems than just this suit which harm the interests of patients. Even privately insured patients get screwed there. I have been screwed by this organization when I spoke up against their ridiculous policies. Because they have a 50 mile no compete clause in my contract, I will have to relocate, even though I have patients who want me to continue as their doctor. I will be filling my own suit against them. It is a difficult situation as far as the inadequate funding for Medicaid, because physician reimbursement and case load are not balanced well. Most doctors are lucky to receive 30% of what is billed, and Medicaid reimbursement is even less or sometimes significantly delayed or refused. I agree that it is a tragedy to enforce rigid policies with regard to treating certain Medicaid patients who clearly are in need, especially children. If hospitals would run more efficiently and private insurers would stop raping the public, then affordable quality healthcare could be achieved. I spent several years working in a Los Angeles County Hospital in south Central LA treating a high percentage of the underinsured, and saw how poor administration wasted millions of dollars. Unfortunately, in comparison to Carle with regard to quality of care, I did not see much difference, and in some instances felt it was worse at Carle. This problem of treating the underinsured ultimately affects all areas of healthcare delivery, as patients flood to emergency rooms for primary care. Because of EMTALA, you must be treated if you present to an emergency room. It is illegal to send people away. The entire system needs an overhaul, and the only presidential candidate who has any concept of the problem in any capacity is Senator Obama. I tried to stand up for the rights of patients and it cost me my job, and possibly my career. I have no sympathy for Carle in this, and I am certain they deserve to be sued.

By: Smapp07

Smapp07 — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:26:35 +0000

I find this article to be disgusting, and the author has not even bothered to reply to these responses. When you are sitting on the top it’s easy to look down your nose. Doctors over price their appointments, for those seeing only Medicaid patients it becomes an issue, but for those doctors who take primarily private insurance holders the cost of Medicaid is absorbed by them. BCBS gets a discount for you using specific physicians, why doesn’t Medicaid? Don’t assume we are all ignorant, I have been on Medicaid, and fortunately am not any longer, I feel sad for the state of Medicaid in this country, and especially in this state. I hope the people who have posted above find the necessary care, and speak to congressmen and women. Talk to everyone you know about what is happening. The Senator from IL is a candidate for Presidency and hopefully that comes along with a positive change in the Medicaid system. Best of luck to all of you! Remember you are not alone!