Single Payer

[Cranjis McBasketball]

What would single payer health care mean for podiatrists and how would the career look/change if it ever came to that in the future?

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[vm26]

What would single payer health care mean for podiatrists and how would the career look/change if it ever came to that in the future?

Very hard to predict but I'll try...single payor (lets say medicare for all), in a fee-for-service model may be similar to the status quo with some dip in income...if fee-for-service goes then all bets are off. We would all likely take a significant hit with respect to income, hopefully there would be a corresponding decrease in work load/hours but who knows....

 

[Aeki]

It would all depend on what the new federal "Medicare" covered and how well it reimbursed for procedures. From what I've heard the podiatric surgeons in Canada make a decent living charging the provincial insurance along with a co pay from the patient (depending on the province). Can anyone speak more to the situation in AB and BC?


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[JewOnThis]

Well it would definitely hurt our profession since most of us are in private practice.

 

[Aeki]

Well it would definitely hurt our profession since most of us are in private practice.

I'm not saying you are wrong but just to be clear....most medical care is privately delivered in a single payer system. It would basically be "Medicare for all". Medicare is already a huge part of most podiatry practices so, as I said, it would really depend on other factors: what would it cover, how much would it pay, could pods charge a co pay, could patients get supplemental insurance for elective procedures, etc.

Just based on your comment it seems like you might be assuming that private practice would be eliminated because care would be administered by government?
You might be thinking of health care systems like the UKs NhS or the VA system here in the USA. In these systems care is funded AND administered by the government. Different system completely. It's an important distinction when discussing health care systems.

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Wouldn't this create a HUGE headache of paperwork to prove to the government that certain procedures are necessary? And wouldn't this also make reimbursement rates go down? Just thoughts I have, however I am a Pre-Pod so I am not as knowledgable as practicing podiatrists and residents.

 

[I post PRN]

Wouldn't this create a HUGE headache of paperwork to prove to the government that certain procedures are necessary? And wouldn't this also make reimbursement rates go down? Just thoughts I have, however I am a Pre-Pod so I am not as knowledgable as practicing podiatrists and residents.

One payer equals lower reimbursements.

 

[bobtheweazel]

Wouldn't this create a HUGE headache of paperwork to prove to the government that certain procedures are necessary? And wouldn't this also make reimbursement rates go down? Just thoughts I have, however I am a Pre-Pod so I am not as knowledgable as practicing podiatrists and residents.

It's not all cons though. As it stands different insurance companies have different paperwork requirements or different ideas of what justifies certain treatments. It would take a lot of the administrative burden away from the doc/staff to only have one set of rules to comply with.

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[Cranjis McBasketball]

It's not all cons though. As it stands different insurance companies have different paperwork requirements or different ideas of what justifies certain treatments. It would take a lot of the administrative burden away from the doc/staff to only have one set of rules to comply with.

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And am I right to assume that this would increase volume by a lot for podiatrists? This would expand the patient pool, especially as diabetes gets worse and worse?

 

[HappyHobPod]

And am I right to assume that this would increase volume by a lot for podiatrists? This would expand the patient pool, especially as diabetes gets worse and worse?

Depends on the goals of the people in charge. If you have more time in the day you could allocate that time by spending more of it with patients and/or squeezing in more patients.


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