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MDs Just as Confused about ACA Details
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Polls continue to reveal that despite the Obama administration's efforts, consumers remain confused about the facts of the ACA ... and so do physicians, unfortunately.
The Affordable Care Act has been a top story in the country for the last two years, and yet, polls continue to reveal that Americans often get the facts about the health law wrong. And now it turns out that physicians aren’t doing any better.
Unfortunately, confused and clueless patients will likely turn to their health care providers to also provide information. However, they’re just as confused.
A new survey from QuantiaMD revealed that 84% of physicians felt like they didn’t have enough information on the ACA to serve as a reliable resource for patients. Plus, 81% admitted they didn’t have enough information about the ACA to even understand its impact on their practice and comply with requirements.
“This poll proves how physicians have been left out of the health care reform process,” Mike Paskavitz, Editor-in-Chief, Quantia, Inc., said in a statement. “As the patient’s most trusted point of access to the health care system, physicians can be a tremendous communication channel for the ACA, and this poll demonstrates that there hasn’t been much, if any, communication directed at them.”
According to a Bankrate.com survey, less than half (45%) of respondents could correctly identify March 13 s the cutoff date to purchase insurance and avoid a tax penalty. A quarter of respondents believed that the deadline passed on Jan. 1, 2014 and 11% believed that Dec. 31, 2014 was the cutoff date.
“Many Americans are not taking the deadline to sign up for Obamacare seriously,” Bankrate.com insurance analyst Doug Whiteman said in a statement.
But passing on correct information to patients isn’t as easy as turning to the physicians. QuantiaMD’s poll of more than 1,200 physicians from around the country also revealed that a third of physicians can’t get reliable information about the ACA because there are no reliable sources of information.
If, however, the Department of Health and Human Services produced an FAQ on the ACA, then 79% of physicians said they would use it with their patients.
