Health insurance plans offered both on and off the Obamacare marketplaces fall far short in helping patients access doctors, a new study finds.
When researchers directed “secret shoppers” to call doctors listed on directories provided by California Blue Cross Blue Shield, they were unable to set up appointments with nearly three in four of the providers, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs.
Out of 743 doctors listed, the callers weren’t able to reach nearly 20 percent using the contact information listed. Ten percent of the doctors were no longer with the group listed or had never been with the group at all. Another 10 percent weren’t accepting new patients.
In another 30 percent of the cases, the specialty listed in the provider directory didn’t match the specialty stated by the receptionist at the practice.
The findings underscore complaints that insurance plans provided through the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplaces offer limited choices of doctors. Narrowing the network of doctors and hospitals available is one way that insurers have sought to save money to help offset the costs of meeting new requirements imposed by the law.
“Obtaining access to primary care providers was generally equally challenging both inside and outside insurance marketplaces,” the study says. “In less than 30 percent of cases were consumers able to schedule an appointment with an initially selected physician provider.”
The study also sheds light on how poor the provider databases provided by insurance companies are. The study’s authors wrote that mandating electronic provider directories are updated frequently “might be the only path to truly improved access for patients.”
