Monday, April 14, 2008

Double Your Wait

By Grace-Marie Turner

Categories: Individual Mandates, Massachusetts

Massachusetts' law requiring everyone to have health insurance is putting added pressure on primary care physicians and lengthening the wait for appointments--an unintended consequence of universal coverage, reports The New York Times.

Physician Patricia A. Sereno said an influx of the newly insured to her practice just north of Boston has stretched her daily caseload to as many as 22 to 25 patients, up from 18 to 20 a year ago. To fit them in, she limits the number of 45-minute physicals she schedules each day, thereby doubling the wait for an exam to three months.

"It's a recipe for disaster," Dr. Sereno said. "It's great that people have access to health care, but now we've got to find a way to give them access to preventive services. The point of the legislation was not to get people episodic care."