Texas MedClinic Drops Blue Cross

Source: 1200 News Radio WOAI

“Access to care is going to become a problem”

by: Jim Forsyth

The Texas MedClinic chain of neighborhood emergency clinics today dropped Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas from its list of accepted health insurance plans, effective later this month, in a glimpse of what the next major health care fight is likely to be, 1200 WOAI news reports.

“We were confronted with Blue Cross not increasing our fees significantly over the last five years,” Dr. Bernard Swift, the CEO of Texas MedClinic told 1200 WOAI news. “You can’t run a business when your costs increase, and your revenue doesn’t increase as well.”

Texas MedClinic has 14 locations in San Antonio, New Braunfels, and Austin, which treat minor emergencies and urgent medical illnesses. The company points out that it is a ‘quality and significant cost saving alternative’ to expensive hospital emergency rooms.

But Dr. Swift says insurance companies are trying to cut health care costs by cutting reimbursements to physicians. He says doctors offices are small businesses, with fixed costs for overhead, utilities, and staff, and he says the company simply can’t keep doing business with an insurance company which doesn’t properly reimburse physicians.

“Access to care is going to become a problem as more and more physicians reject what not only the federal government, but what private insurers, Blue Cross in particular, are attempting to do to physicians today,” he said.

Swift pointed out that Medicare and Medicaid are also cutting reimbursements to doctors, and much of Obamacare is predicated on reducing physician reimbursements.

He says all the insurance in the world isn’t much good if you can’t find a doctor who will accept it.

Visit http://www.texasmedclinic.com/main/bcbs.php for more information.