WASHINGTON — There's enough controversy surrounding health care reform. Editor Shawn Tully of Fortune magazine recently added one more to the pot: A potential lack of doctors to take care of the patients who will now have health coverage.

In a recent article, Tully explained that while ACA increases health-care coverage, it will also freeze "the ranks of the already-busy providers needed to furnish all those extra check-ups, cancer screenings and angioplasties: Americans physicians."

Tully interviewed University of Pennsylvania oncologist Dr. Richard Cooper, who explained that simple supply and demand is at work here. Expanding demand and cutting fees, which is what the ACA is about, means doctors will take the higher-paying patients and ignore the lower-paying ones.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

  • Critical BenefitsPRO information including cutting edge post-reform success strategies, access to educational webcasts and videos, resources from industry leaders, and informative Newsletters.
  • Exclusive discounts on ALM, BenefitsPRO magazine and BenefitsPRO.com events
  • Access to other award-winning ALM websites including ThinkAdvisor.com and Law.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.