The Biden administration is trying to help people on Medicaid see the doctor faster. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just finalized a regulation establishing a maximum wait of 15 business days for a Medicaid beneficiary to get a primary care appointment.
Decreeing that wait times must be shorter will not make them so. The trouble is that demand for care by Medicaid beneficiaries far outpaces supply.
Medicaid enrollment has been trending upward for the last decade, thanks to Obamacare’s expansion of the program. The supply of care has not kept pace — especially given Medicaid’s low reimbursement rates, which compel providers to limit the number of beneficiaries they’ll see.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.
Limit Medicaid enrollment to alleviate wait times
Sally C. Pipes
The Biden administration is trying to help people on Medicaid see the doctor faster. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just finalized a regulation establishing a maximum wait of 15 business days for a Medicaid beneficiary to get a primary care appointment.
Decreeing that wait times must be shorter will not make them so. The trouble is that demand for care by Medicaid beneficiaries far outpaces supply.
Medicaid enrollment has been trending upward for the last decade, thanks to Obamacare’s expansion of the program. The supply of care has not kept pace — especially given Medicaid’s low reimbursement rates, which compel providers to limit the number of beneficiaries they’ll see.
Click to read the full article in the Detroit News.
Nothing contained in this blog is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of the Pacific Research Institute or as an attempt to thwart or aid the passage of any legislation.