Mandatory assignment. What hath it wrought in Massachusetts?
The national precedent set in 1986--when Chapter 475, mandating Medicare assignment in Massachusetts, became law--has spread across the United States as other states seek to control physicians' incomes under the Medicare program. While some form of mandatory assignment is the law in at least a dozen states, the Bay State's law currently remains the most restrictive in the country. The effects of Chapter 475 continue to ripple through the health care system and are sure to intensify as the national debate heats up over the future of the Medicare program. The article explains the theoretical and practical reasons why mandatory Medicare assignment affects access to medical care, jeopardizes the number of physicians who will choose to treat Medicare patients, and ties the professional licensure process not to clinical expertise but to acceptance of a broad social-entitlement program.
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003625:Data Collection; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008007:Licensure, Medical; D008404:Massachusetts; D006278:Medicare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D015442:Medicare Assignment / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States