Kaiser Health News and OPB discuss the growing trend of doctors opting out of accepting health insurance. (Via @AAPSonline.)
Many doctors find this lets them to practice better medicine. The big question is how long they will be allowed to do this by the government or whether they will be compelled to take patients with insurance under ObamaCare. (This was proposed in Massachusetts to address the problem of long waits, but did not become law.)
Dr. David Gelber discusses how, "Rigid regulation can become detrimental to patient care".
We can expect to see much more of this "cookbook medicine" as payments to hospitals and physicians becomes increasingly linked to adhering to government-specified "quality" measures under ObamaCare. People will choose to adhere to these "quality" guidelines, even if it harms patient care.
The 12/2/2011 Kaiser Health News reports, "Final Medical Loss Ratio Rule Rebuffs Insurance Agents". The effect of these insurance regulations will be to make private health insurance less available to the public.
Here's a related story from Forbes, "The Bomb Buried In Obamacare". (Note: I don't endorse his glee at the impending end of private health insurers.)
The blog of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine (FIRM)
