ACA hurts practices, patients

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the red party’s attempt to trim President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Most of it will remain the same. How will this affect us, and what will the future bring?

On average, premiums for 2015 are between 2 percent and 4 percent higher than 2014. However, many younger and healthier people are forgoing insurance, and this will make risk pools more costly. After another full year of more costly medical claims, some insurers in some states will raise rates. Drastically. They are in business to make money.

The ACA has caused a few things to change for sure. It has caused many doctors nationwide to retire early, and others to move to larger clinics or hospitals. Small practices and clinics will have a difficult time competing. This is partly because there is so much paperwork that doctors see fewer patients, so they make less money.

This happened not only to my primary care doctor, who retired early, but it was instrumental in a hospital buying out an entire full-service clinic, then closing it. The patients were given the option of following their caregivers. I found a good doctor but many were not so fortunate.

Gerald Ray

Spokane