An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back

by Elisabeth Rosenthal

It seemed like a shoo-in when Illinois state representative Daniel Burke proposed a bill in 2012 requiring physicians to inform patients whether they were in a patient’s insurance network before rendering treatment to avoid surprise out-of-network charges. It didn’t pass. A parade of doctors, called into action by the Illinois State Medical Society, blocked the legislation, testifying that it would burden office staff and “could harm patients as care would often times have to be delayed.” In the same legislative session, the Illinois State Medical Society helped defeat acts that would allow physical therapists to treat patients without a doctor’s referral and psychologists to prescribe medicine, as well as another that would effectively protect physicians from enhanced scrutiny for Medicaid fraud. On the other hand, the society successfully championed legislation allowing doctors to supervise up to five full-time physician assistants and bill as if they delivered the care themselves. A doctor in Illinois can now be in six places at once.