This is an interesting insight because when I investigated this subject the responses were very mixed. Even one of my professors for my degree program mentioned how universal healthcare will financially hurt professionals in the medical field and could lead to poorer quality of care. Then of course he went over the pros as well. I do not want to be a physician for financial stability, it's a plus, but I can also obtain that in another field without as much debt. I just like to have a general foundation/understanding of what is happening in whatever field I work in.
I should have really emphasized the
many part of my post. Many providers will do worse, many would do better. Hard to tell... Hence why you get so many varied answers. And then there's the whole philosophical/ethical side of universal coverage.
I'm not sure how it would work for hospitals. Obviously safety-net hospitals that see mostly uninsured/Medicaid would do better (since now they get paid nothing or Medicare rates), and hospitals catering to the well-to-do would do worse (since Medicare does pay
hospitals quite a bit less than private payors, in general).
I imagine the same would be true for surgeons/procedural.
Groups can often negotiate better rates with private payors than individual docs like me. So again, they might suffer more with Medicare for all if they have a higher percentage of privately insured patients.
I'm curious if Medicare for all could actually raise reimbursement for everyone, but cost the same due to the decreased overhead/fewer denials/etc. It's entirely possible hospitals and physicians could make more (or we make the same/patients save money). As a solo practice doc, I can't tell you how often my billers tell me that insurance companies deny a payment just because they can and it lets them hold onto the money longer and accrue interest. Plus there's always the chance we forget to appeal/send in clinical notes to get the money. One company still sends paper checks
to my hospital, not my billers (despite my billers requesting the checks go to them), which I presume is to lengthen the amount of time they hold onto their money/increase the odds the check never gets to me.
It's all just ridiculous.
Simplicity. We need more of it (the whole world does). EMRs had that potential but unfortunately that got messed up.
