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Several months into the launch of the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace, Texas physicians still find themselves mired in a land of confusion. For those patients who avoided the log jam in the troubled


enrollment process, their new insurance coverage began Jan. 1. One day later, Abilene otolaryngologist Austin King, MD, saw one of those newly insured patients. An oral surgeon referred the man after spotting a tumor during an examination for a toothache. The Texas Medical Association president-elect knew the patient needed immediate evaluation. But neither the doctor nor the pa- tient readily knew what kind of coverage he had. All they had to go on was the member ID number the patient wrote down on a piece of paper after he signed up for insurance. Dr. King’s staff called the insurer and, after half an hour on hold, gave up because they were too busy seeing other patients. BY AMY LYNN SORREL PHOTO BY BRETT BUCHANAN


THE ACA MARKETPLACE “It’s a 16 TEXAS MEDICINE April 2014


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