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Shortage of Primary Care Doctors Looms for Vermont

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A Vermont Medicaid attorney can provide assistance in qualifying for Medicaid by taking steps to protect your assets so your wealth does not disqualify you from getting covered. It’s important to make a Medicaid plan as you get older, as you may require costly nursing home care and Medicaid may be the only source of payments for that care. Doctor

Medicaid not only provides for the costs of nursing home care, but it can also help beneficiaries of all ages to afford healthcare services that they may be in need of. Unfortunately, many doctors and care providers do not accept Medicaid because reimbursement rates can be lower than other types of insurance.

While this isn’t typically a concern if you are using Medicaid to pay for a nursing home since nursing homes usually do accept Medicaid, it could be an issue if you need other kinds of healthcare services that you want Medicaid to cover.

Unfortunately, it is not only people with Medicaid who may have a hard time getting essential care in Vermont. Vermont’s NPR News Source indicates that there is a looming shortage of primary care doctors in the state. If there are not enough doctors, there could be long wait times for appointments and everyone – regardless of how they pay for care – could experience difficulties in getting the medical services that they need in order to stay healthy.

Shortage of Primary Care Doctors in Vermont Causes Concern

According to NPR, almost 30 percent of primary care doctors in the state of Vermont are over the age of 60. This means that a substantial number of these primary care physicians are getting very close to retirement age. When they retire, there likely will not be enough new primary care doctors to replace them.

If there are too few doctors, this results in longer wait times. Some patients are not able to get appointments with primary care doctors at all. This can have a spiraling impact on access to all types of care, as many insurance companies only pay for specialists to provide treatment if the patient has been referred to a specialist by a primary care physician. If a patient cannot get an appointment with a primary care doctor, getting that referral becomes impossible.

Patients who cannot get appointments with primary care doctors may also be more likely to utilize emergency rooms to get treatments for medical issues that a primary care doctor normally could treat. This can increase wait times at emergency rooms and tie up doctors who might otherwise be providing care to people with more critical illnesses or injuries.

If people turn to emergency rooms for care more often as a result of a shortage in primary care physicians, this can also drive up insurance costs because it is much more expensive for patients to visit emergency rooms. If at least some primary care doctors charge more for services as a result of the shortage of doctors, these rising prices will also impact healthcare costs. The combination of higher provider rates and an increase in the use of emergency room services could drive up costs dramatically.

Those patients who do not go to ERs but who must wait for a long time for an appointment, or who cannot get an appointment, could also experience a worsening of symptoms. The delay could cause a condition to get worse, and thus become more expensive to treat.

These are just some of the many issues that can occur when there are is a shortage of primary care doctors. Medicaid beneficiaries may face even more challenges, as doctors who are in high demand may be less likely to accept Medicaid.

Getting Help from A Vermont Medicaid Attorney

You should not have to worry about whether or not you will be able to get the healthcare that you need. While a shortage of doctors is a difficult problem to solve, there are other issues that you can avoid through the effective use of legal tools.

If you work with Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC to make a Medicaid plan, you can ensure that you won’t have to spend down assets to qualify for Medicaid and you can ensure that you’ll be able to get nursing home care costs paid for if you must be admitted to a nursing care facility.

To find out more about the ways in which Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC helps you to make a Medicaid plan so you ca get medical care, join us for a free seminar. You can also get personalized advice about qualifying for coverage and protecting assets by giving us a call at (802) 879-7133 or contacting us online. Call today to get your plans in place.

Stephen Unsworth
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