HOUSTON, Jeremy Desel/11 News -- The health care reform plan is leaving many doctors with questions about the long-term health of their practices.
“Reimbursement? Money? Making money?--We are also making a living. You know, we are not going to compromise people’s health, but it is a business," said Houston doctor Roland Maldonado.
Doctors depend on negotiated rates with insurance companies -- companies doctors expect will want to pay less from now on because of health insurance reform.
The Obama administration is claiming the bill will have immediate impacts, like removing pre-existing conditions exclusions for children, adding patient protections, extending coverage to young adults under their parents' plans and protections from rescinding insurance when claims are filed.
In actuality, those headline-grabbing items don't really take effect for six months.
University of Houston economist Scott Imberman said that is not unusual.
"As far as changes in law go, six months is about as immediate as you are going to get," he said.
But it may have an impact on some patients, especially those who could have coverage dropped due to claims.
"The insurance company may kind of speed up that timeline, and say, well we are not going to be able to drop them six months from now so we might as well go ahead and drop them now," Imberman said.
That could leave adult patients exposed until pre-existing conditions exclusions are banned four years from now.
In the end, health care reform may well be like many of the conditions Maldonado sees in his patients.
"Wait and see how it really affects us over time," he said.
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