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why i do not bill insurance companies

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  • Insurance companies make money by paying as little as possible.  They have created the "insurance game" which costs doctors and hospitals more money to play in an attempt to get paid.  That extra cost is then transferred to patients driving up the cost of health care.
  • By attempting to play the "insurance game," doctors end up becoming more focused on correct coding and learning the details of insurance company policies rather than becoming good healers.  The quality of insurance billing goes up while the quality of health care goes down.
  • Insurance companies will pay for some diagnoses and not others.  They will pay for some procedures for some diagnoses but not others.  Insurance companies do not typically pay for preventive, conservative care while they readily pay for aggressive care and surgery.  This leads doctors to choose more aggressive treatments and more surgery when there are less expensive and simpler options available.  Insurance company agents who are not medically trained end up controlling how highly-trained doctors treat their patients through economic and legal coersion. 
    When I visit with patients, my focus is on helping the patient in any way that I can.  When insurance companies get involved, the situation becomes more complicated and both the patient and doctor suffer. 
  • As long as insurance companies profit by not paying doctors, the health care system in the United States will continue to worsen. 
  • When a patient directly pays a doctor for services provided, there is more incentive for the doctor to keep prices reasonable and provide quality health care. 
  • Patients are typically more motivated to follow recommendations from a doctor that they had to pay directly.  The patient has to pay less when they get healthier and more if they become sicker.  There is economic incentive for patients to follow treatment plans and get healthier.

    I understand that people pay a lot of money for health insurance and it is difficult to then spend more money to see doctors that are not covered by that insurance.  But I feel that people will save money and more importantly receive better health care in the long run if insurance companies play a much smaller part in the health care system.