Affordable Care Act might cut doctor pay, create individual health plans: Health Care Attorney David Walsh
In this interview on KLIF-AM (news talk radio, Dallas), Dallas health care attorney David M. Walsh IV describes how he expects the Affordable Care Act to play out. “I think premiums will go up in the short term, but physician reimbursements will go down in the long term,” says Mr. Walsh, a partner at Dallas-based Chamblee, Ryan, Kershaw and Anderson, P.C. “So, in the long term, not in two years, but in 15 to 20 years, we might have a doctor shortage because the end result has to be doctors being paid less. Otherwise, it’s not going to work out. The whole idea is to have cheaper health insurance, and to have cheaper insurance, you’ll have to have cheaper reimbursements in the long run, I think. Some people are going to decide to pay the tax and not get insurance in the short term. Other people are going to decide to get insurance. The other thing is, employers are going to be required to provide employees insurance. So, you’ll see a lot of shake up in the industry. I think the old mandate of the employer picking insurance for you is going to change. I think it will be driven by a sort of exchange. You’ve probably read about Walgreen’s, where they gave their employees a certain amount of money to buy insurance. I think almost all employers will switch to something like that. The same thing happened in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, when employees moved from pension plans to 401k plans. It’s the same concept.”
Listen to the interview here.
Attorney: David M. Walsh, IV
