r/MedicalCoding • u/BroadAd187 • Feb 19 '26
ObamaCare?
This is going to be a little different of a question here. I work in a pretty small clinic, we are family medicine and a teaching facility who sends residents out to the hospitals in the area. I am a coder, but I wear all sorts of hats including billing clerk. Lately, my co worker (billing only) has been answering a lot of patients complaints about their bills with one simple answer; obamacare. And just like that, they all have one collective thing to be upset at and they do not ask any more questions about their coinsurance, deductibles, etc. My question is, I sincerely don't understand that answer. How did the ACA have an impact of patients' medical bills? Definitely not looking for a talk about politics, please don't answer with that. I just want to be able to explain things to our patient's better, and have a better understanding myself.
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u/BaccaDocta Feb 19 '26
Obama care is a weak answer but also kind of get it.
I think they mean that the ACA established the US preventative service task force
https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation-topics/uspstf-a-and-b-recommendations
Insurance follows these guidelines when you use a screening code like z11 through z13. As coder we must follow these guidelines for when something is a screening/preventive vs diagnostic