Insurance reimbursements ail Missouri physicians

Insurance reimbursements that are arbitrarily reduced and take far too long to be paid are causing the greatest amount of burden on our Missouri doctors. A recent Associated Press story from Indiana, which has some of the strictest tort laws in the country, said doctors are quitting and reimbursements are the biggest part of the issue.

Insurance companies, HMOs, and auto insurers are unfairly reducing bills submitted by doctors and not paying them on time. Currently, 37 class-action lawsuits are filed against insurance companies on behalf of thousands of doctors for low and/or slow payments. This past February, a federal judge approved a $540 million settlement against health insurer Cigna, which was preceded by a $470 million settlement against Aetna.

Doctors are facing a reimbursement crisis and that is forcing many of them out of business. Insurance companies have all types of ridiculous hoops for doctors to jump through in order to obtain reimbursement. The hoops are disguised in names like bundling, retrospective audits, coordination of claims, the list goes on. When doctors do get paid, they sometimes receive a check for up to 30 percent less than the bill they submitted. It is fundamentally unfair.

This problem affects doctors nationwide, yet they still clamor for reform measures that will not assist them in recovering these slow to no payments. Like injured patients, doctors have a right to access the civil justice system to recover legitimate compensation. It’s time to reform insurance companies in order to win the medical crisis for all Missourians.

Ashley Allen is the director of Missouri Watch Inc. a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition located in Jefferson City.