Dr. Kent Mercado says President Donald Trump might have just saved his business.
“I have never been a fan of the Affordable Care Act,” Mercado, a Naperville podiatrist, told Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson, hosts of "Chicago’s Morning Answer" radio show. “My office would not be able to survive another hit as they try to implement something else (under the ACA)."
Proft is a principal of Local Government Information Services, which owns this publication.
Dr. Kent Mercado
| https://www.mercadofootandankle.com/
Trump recently signed an executive order on health care that he said will help millions of American gain access to affordable health care. He wants to cut federal subsidies known as cost-sharing reduction payments to health insurance companies that help low-income people pay out-of-pocket costs, according to The New York Times.
Fox News reported that the order will eventually make it easier for small businesses to buy insurance through association health plans, which could allow employers to offer health plan coverage across state lines.
Some insurance companies, including Meridian, pay out 15 cents on the dollar for what Mercado charges the government for services to Medicaid-eligible patients, he said.
“For some of the ACA Medicaid programs, I’ve yet to be paid in 2017 for any patient that I have seen,” Mercado said. “I’ve taken five out of 19 paychecks (this year)."
He also said that his patients have limited access to care under the ACA.
“I have a patient that has a bone tumor," Mercado said. "I can’t do that procedure on her in my office. I have to do it in the hospital, and none of the hospitals that I am on will take her because they haven’t been paid."
The majority of Mercado’s patients have high deductibles. When patients can’t pay, his business suffers.
“I just had a patient that had a $100 co-pay, so she’s going to be limited,” Mercado said.
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