Medicaid has struggled for years with a shortage of doctors willing to accept its low reimbursement rates and red tape, forcing many patients to wait for care, particularly from specialists.
In just five weeks, millions of additional Americans will be covered by the program, many of them older people with an array of health problems.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts that nine million people will gain coverage through Medicaid next year alone.
Community clinics, which typically provide primary care but not specialty care, have expanded and hired more medical staff members to meet the anticipated wave of new patients.
Managed-care companies are recruiting more doctors, nurse practitioners and other professionals into their networks, sometimes offering higher pay if they improve care while keeping costs down.
But it is far from clear that the demand can be met, experts say.
In California, with the nation’s largest Medicaid population, many doctors say they are already overwhelmed and unable to take on more low-income patients.
One million of the newly eligible will probably be enrolled by July 2014, said Mari Cantwell, an official with the state’s Department of Health Care Services.
On top of that, only about 57 percent of doctors in California accept new Medicaid patients, according to a study published last year in the journal Health Affairs.
Adding to the expansion of the Medicaid rolls is a phenomenon Medicaid experts are calling the “woodwork effect,” in which people who had been eligible for Medicaid even before the Affordable Care act are enrolling now because they have learned about the program through publicity about the new law. As a result, Medicaid rolls are growing.
Managed-care companies that serve the Medicaid population are still hustling to recruit more doctors and other providers to treat the new enrollees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/29/us/lack-of-doctors-may-worsen-as-millions-join-medicaid-rolls.html
In just five weeks, millions of additional Americans will be covered by the program, many of them older people with an array of health problems.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts that nine million people will gain coverage through Medicaid next year alone.
Community clinics, which typically provide primary care but not specialty care, have expanded and hired more medical staff members to meet the anticipated wave of new patients.
Managed-care companies are recruiting more doctors, nurse practitioners and other professionals into their networks, sometimes offering higher pay if they improve care while keeping costs down.
But it is far from clear that the demand can be met, experts say.
In California, with the nation’s largest Medicaid population, many doctors say they are already overwhelmed and unable to take on more low-income patients.
One million of the newly eligible will probably be enrolled by July 2014, said Mari Cantwell, an official with the state’s Department of Health Care Services.
On top of that, only about 57 percent of doctors in California accept new Medicaid patients, according to a study published last year in the journal Health Affairs.
Adding to the expansion of the Medicaid rolls is a phenomenon Medicaid experts are calling the “woodwork effect,” in which people who had been eligible for Medicaid even before the Affordable Care act are enrolling now because they have learned about the program through publicity about the new law. As a result, Medicaid rolls are growing.
Managed-care companies that serve the Medicaid population are still hustling to recruit more doctors and other providers to treat the new enrollees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/29/us/lack-of-doctors-may-worsen-as-millions-join-medicaid-rolls.html