Dealing with health insurers only getting worse: U.S. doctors

NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The killing of a top health insurance executive outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel last week in New York City triggered an outpouring of public anger at an industry many Americans blame for the ills of the nation's healthcare system, and doctors are also among the aggrieved, reported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday.

Doctors deal day in and day out with insurers including UnitedHealthcare, whose chief executive, Brian Thompson, was shot to death last week by an assassin who targeted him outside the company's annual investor conference. Doctors say their frustration is born of intimate experience and has been building for years.

Their chief complaint is the aggravation and expense of convincing insurance companies to pay them for their patients' treatment. Even when they are ultimately approved, MRI scans and other vital but costly procedures often require days of campaigning and paperwork, doctors were cited in the report.

"It's getting worse," said Dr. Zulfiqar Ahmed, an internist in Augusta, Georgia, who has practiced in the United States for 35 years. "This is not only UnitedHealthcare -- this is universal in this country."

Doctors say that sympathy doesn't change their feelings about having to haggle with doctors employed by UnitedHealthcare and other insurers to evaluate proposed procedures -- and oftentimes, reject them.

Health insurers say they play a valuable role financing the medical care that saves the lives of many patients. Denials keep a lid on unnecessary care and high costs. Insurers also note that doctors, hospitals and drugmakers play a big role in soaring healthcare spending that they are trying to restrain, while ensuring patients get the medical care they need.