It's not just patients; thousands of doctors now being dropped from Obamacare coverage networks

Don't look now, America, but another very predictable consequence of Obamacare is beginning to play out.

Not only are customers losing their insurance plans - the plans Obama said they could keep - but now, insurance companies are dropping physicians from coverage plans as well.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal:

UnitedHealth Group, Inc., the nation's largest provider of privately managed Medicare Advantage plans, has dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in recent weeks - spurring protest from lawmakers and physician groups and leaving many elderly patients unsure about whether they need to switch plans to keep seeing their doctors.

Obamacare regulations 'driving our actions'

The paper said physicians in at least 10 states have received termination letters. Some of those letters have cited "significant changes and pressures in the health-care environment."

In addition, the notices inform doctors that they can appeal the decision within 30 days, but that means doctors and patients won't know for certain who is in, and who is out of, UnitedHealth's Medicare Advantage networks before open enrollment to switch Medicare plans ends on Dec. 7.

The insurer said its provider networks change constantly, and it expects its Medicare Advantage network "to be 85 percent to 90 percent of its current size by the end of 2014." But the company would not say how many providers are being curbed in individual states, or what criteria it is using to cut them.

Company officials say they are making their decision based on financial concerns - concerns that are being influenced solely by the mandates contained in Obamacare. Officially, they say United Healthcare is taking the action to provide more value for its customers, but that is corporate-speak for, "We're making this move because we've been forced to do it."

"That's what's driving our actions," Austin Pittman, president of UnitedHealth's networks, told WSJ. "It's no secret that we are under substantial funding pressure from the federal government."

While the company reported a third-quarter profit of $1.57 billion last month, its CEO, Stephen J. Hemsley, has said the outlook for next year is much more cautious, citing expected cuts in Medicare payments that are tied to the Affordable Care Act (and if you thought only Republicans "want to cut Medicare" remember that no Republican voted for the Affordable Care Act - only Obama's Democrats.

Medicare Advantage is a Medicare alternative. It combines hospital and physician coverage that includes prescription drugs and other benefits and perks, like gym memberships.

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