http://realhealthreform.wordpress.com/2009/07/07/annual-cost-of-billing-...

Annual cost of billing-related tasks: $85,276 per physician . . . not acceptable

This study confirms what all physicians already know – health insurers place obstacle upon obstacle in order to avoid payment of claims. Prompt payment, which is mandated by laws in many states, is a pleasant fiction. The first reform needed is to make sure that all health insurers follow a similar form and submission process, this includes electronic filing and payment, which does exist with Medicare and some Medicaid programs. Second, insurers need to be prevented from issuing approvals for care, tests, treatments and surgeries, followed by the familiar refrain, approval does not equal a guarantee of coverage or payment. Approval should equal coverage and payment, period. Third, all health insurers need to be prevented from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. They also need to be prevented from dropping subscribers once they become ill or injured. Lastly, drugs, tests, treatments and technologies that are approved by the FDA should be covered for payment, maximizing the choices patients may enjoy as they work with their physicians to deal with the condition they face. Medical directors at health insurers provide a smoke screen for companies who claim they are not dictating care, when in fact they are by their coverage and payment policies. Only through these reforms can we eliminate much of the needless, unnecessary, wasteful and costly insurance “dance” that providers must do in order to justly paid for legitimate services . . . obi jo and jomaxx