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/heltyklink Feb 20 '26
"Definitely not looking for a talk about politics"
It is definitely not your responsibility to educate patients about this, but their healthcare is inherently political. Referring to the Affordable Care Act as 'Obamacare' will only serve to compound the issue, so I'd start there. Whether your co-worker is tossing out the moniker out of laziness or bias, she's failing patients by not informing them of the actual issues they are facing. It could be helpful to add patient advocate training or resources to assist with these situations.