"Martin Baxter" wrote in message
...
Maxprop wrote:

"Frank Boettcher" wrote in message
...

Today the average doctor makes
approximately five times and much and many specialists make 15-20
times.

Where have you been, Frank? 15-20x? Hardly. Nearly all medical
reimbursement to physicians is now third party, and the rates of
reimbursement have been cut dramatically.

That is *one* good thing you can say for Canada's system, only one
entity to bill. In my province you submit your claim to OHIP once a
month, 21 days later they direct deposit into your account. How many
insurance companies do you have to bill each month, do they all have the
same the claim forms, same claim procedure? I'll bet this doesn't do
much to lower your administrative overhead.

We are forced to bill numerous third party carriers here, each with
different forms (all on-line now, however) and different reimbursement
rates. But the primary difference is that we can pick and choose those
carriers we choose to accept, and reject those with reimbursement rates too
low to allow us to be profitable or those whose service is substandard. In
your situation, your physicians have no choice. They either accept what the
government is going to reimburse them for their services, or they can sell
shoes for a living.

One other point: we have extensive government third party claims here, too,
but not as extensive as yours. What is relevant, however, is that the way
the government processes claims is never the same way twice (NTSWT--a
popular acronym among the health care crowd). Inconsistency doesn't bother
the patient, but it makes life absolutely hell for practitioners.

Max