On July 19, 2012 Dr. Deukmedjian answered questions about the top 10 issues for spine surgeons after the Supreme Court upheld healthcare reform. According to Becker's Spine Review, "At the end of June, the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, which aims to reform the healthcare system in America. The Court upheld ACA but struck down the provision of mandatory Medicaid expansion, leaving this decision to the individual states."
Dr. Deukmedjian's answers to the top 10 issues with PPACA for spine surgeons and how the Supreme Court's decision will impact spin surgery in the future are as follows:
1. Increased pool of patient coverage. Responce: "The PPACA will attempt to enlarge the insurance risk pools to include coverage of the healthy, low risk population which should make insurance for high risk, sick and elderly more affordable by spreading the cost of healthcare over a larger population of premium paying beneficiaries," says Ara Deukmedjian, MD, founder of Deuk Spine Institute in Melbourne, Fla. "I believe everyone deserves exceptional healthcare as a basic human right and I believe that is also how the President saw it when his administration drafted this legislation. By restoring and preserving health to all Americans we as a nation can focus on working together to bring our nation back to its greatness in the eyes of our countrymen and other nations."
5. Evolving patient-physician relationship as coverage denials increase. "One of the significant barriers to curing chronic back and neck pain, aside from incorrect diagnosis or improperly executed 'correct treatment' is denial of care by the patient's health insurer," says Dr. Deukmedjian. "Unfortunately, the PPACA does nothing to stop the insurers from adding more medical tests, medications or treatments to their list of 'medically unnecessary' or 'experimental' care. Every doctor has encountered these denials on a daily basis in their practice and the insurers have successfully driven a massive wedge between the doctor and patient relationship, effectively destroying it."
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