Senator Scott Brown

I've been watching the special election in Massachusetts lately. When word got out that a Republican had the possibility of taking over Ted Kennedy's seat, I was hopeful.

Here's why. I had been noticing that payments to the clinic had recently dropped off significantly. Other healthcare practitioners were noticing the same thing. What was going on that caused the payments to drop so significantly? Then it hit me. Even though it was only a theory, I felt as if the healthcare bill has something to do with it. I don't think those who favored this piece of legislation truly understood what was about to happen.

I theorized that the insurance companies were hoarding their money instead of paying doctors, pharmacies, etc. in case they were going to be driven out of business. It only stands to reason that the companies will take that money and declare bankruptcy. And under the protections of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, they don't owe anyone money. So if you've been to the doctor's office recently and your insurance hadn't paid for whatever services you received, you would be responsible for the entire bill.

Yeah, you might have had insurance at the time of the service, but YOU are ultimately responsible for the payments if your insurance company won't pay. You could try and sue them for not rendering a service to you that you provided, but if they declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, what could you do? You're still responsible for the bill.

I've been watching this election closely because I would have had to start sending out demand letters to several of my patients telling them to pay up. Hey, you don't work for free and neither do doctors.

Let's hope this healthcare bill gets thrown out and let's start with real reform....like tort reform for starters.