Physicians Practice - September 2008 - (Page 36) Insuranc Guy,MD? WHAT IF YOU BY ROBERT ANTHONY ACTUALLY OWNED AN INSURANCE COMPANY — AND REALLY The late comedian George Carlin used to crack, “If you can’t beat ’em, arrange to have them beaten.” Funny. And no doubt the thought has crossed your mind when it comes to insurance company bean-counters. Almost everyone agrees, after all, that there’s something just wrong with the whole industry. Year after year, patients watch helplessly as premiums increase, copays and prescriptions soar, and on and on. You know that you aren’t getting any of that extra money: Physician reimbursement is holding steady or declining. Indeed, says New York pediatrician Herschel R. Lessin, “The current climate is putting primarycare doctors out of business.” But unless you happen to be buddies with Tony Soprano, you can fuhgeddabout having anyone beaten. Yet perhaps the more conventional platitude is the way to go: Maybe you should join ’em. Is it possible for you, a doctor, to own an insurance company? Is this just the starry-eyed fantasy of anguished docs? Or could it really be … DID THINGS RIGHT?
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