Aetna
I recently received this letter from a doctors' office I used to go to when I was living in another part of NJ:
"Dear Patient,
On May 1st of this year Aetna reduced their reimbursements for office visits by an average of over 20%. This puts their fees for office visits at less than 70% of what Medicare allows. We are not able to deliver quality care at this level of reimbursement and are therefore forced to withdraw from Aetna effective January 1, 2011.
We have spoken to our representatives from Aetna and have been told that there are no negotiations and that Aetna is giving the same reimbursements regardless of quality, patient satisfaction, electronic health records or any other measure of physician practices. We have been given no explanation for these cuts and they occur while Aetna profits are up 42% for the last quarter."
Add this to the list of things that disgust and enrage me beyond measure.