Chicago physician Kent Mercado is hoping the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be enough to help heal his patients and save his business.
“Premiums went up by 66 percent this year and have gone up by 300 percent since the ACA started,” Mercado said on "Chicago's Morning Answer" radio show recently. “I’m still trying to figure out what part of affordable this is. With some insurance companies, I’ve yet to be paid for any patient I’ve seen in 2017.”
At a White House signing earlier in October, President Donald Trump heralded his executive order action to three federal agencies as an attempt "to promote health care choice and competition." The order is meant to erase some requirements for basic benefits under Obamacare, according to NPR.
President Donald Trump
| Matt A.J. / Flickr
Mercado said the action comes as a potential lifeline for his ability to continue to provide the kind of service to his patients he’s always prided himself on.
“I will treat someone with insurance or no insurance the same way,” he said. “But I would not be able to take another hit from the ACA. It’s affecting everyone. Right now, I have a patient that needs surgery (for a tumor), and none of the hospitals will accept her as a patient because they haven’t been paid.”
Mercado called reports of millions of patients now having health care insurance through ACA misleading.
“The majority of patients have such high deductibles,” he said. “Just because you have insurance doesn’t mean you will receive the care you need. It’s a misnomer. On paper you have coverage for "x" amount of people, but it’s misleading and impractical for someone to use it.”
As for the actions taking by Trump, Mercado said they come as a “wonderful first step” for an alternative to a system that now reimburses doctors at about 15 cents on the dollar.
“You’re talking about being able to buy insurance across state lines,” Mercado said.
Mercado said that Trump’s order also “directs administration to develop policy that increases choices and lowers costs, directs Labor secretary to consider proposing regulations to expand health plans” and directs “federal agencies revising guidance on reimbursement arrangements.”
Mercado said the actions will give smaller practices like his more of a fighting chance.
“Individual practitioners cannot afford to stay in practice,” he said of Obamacare. “That’s why they’re being absorbed by the large companies.”
Trump said the measures should have been in place long ago and are being added as part of an overall plan to increase health care choices for all.
The Washington Post reported that Trump added: “It will cost the United States government virtually nothing and people will have great, great health care. And when I say people, I mean by the millions and millions."
Previously, the Trump administration moved to end federal payments for cost-sharing reductions now used by millions of Americans enrolled in ACA programs. Health and Human Services officials estimated that the subsidies in question would total around $7 billion in 2017.
The money is now distributed among insurers that are legally obligated to assist eligible consumers meet their deductibles and other costs associated with treatment.
The latest changes stemming from Trump’s executive order could take as long as six months to fully implement.
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