“Are Doctors Playing Favorites”?

“Are Doctors Playing Favorites”?

Not everyone is happy about the Obama Administration’s plan to deploy “mystery shoppers” posing as patients and contacting doctors’ offices for appointments in an attempt to assess whether all people, regardless of type of health care coverage, are able to get care when they need it.  According to Washington, DC-based internist, Dr. Raymond Scalettar, “I don’t like the idea of the government snooping. It’s a pernicious practice — Big Brother tactics, which should be opposed.”  The Administration’s rationale for its proposed plan is the now critical shortage of primary care doctors coupled with what it believes is the practice by some physicians to give preferential treatment to patients with private insurance versus those covered by government payment plans. 

For more, see: U.S. Plans Stealth Survey on Access to Doctors.