Network information continues to be tricky

Americans were promised that if they liked their health insurance plan, they could keep their existing plan -- until they couldn't. (Mine, for example, was cancelled, and California has opted to not allow insurance companies to renew existing policies that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act standards.) Americans were also promised that if they like their doctor, they wouldn't have to change. It turns out that that might be changing as well.

Kaiser Health News reports that doctors are being offered lower rates for their services when they treat patients who are insured by a plan that is offered on a state exchange. What is particularly surprising is that doctors are apparently being offered rates below Medicare. This is concerning because over the past few years, media has reported on doctors opting out of Medicare precisely because of the economics. While the original assurance of being able to keep one's doctor may have been well-intended, the actual economics might force a different reality on patients.

Because of the lower rates, some doctors have been opting out of the new plans that are offered by the exchange. A problem that is surfacing is that insurance companies don't present the most up-to-date listings, and so consumers don't have a great way of checking their doctor's network information online. Another unfortunate hitch.