Third-party payment

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Third-party payment is the term used to refer to payments for medical services and procedures by a third-party, usually public or private medical or health insurance company or government program.

Third-party payment for non-therapeutic or unnecessary medical procedures encourages the performance of such services, simply so the attending physician can collect a fee.

Third-party payment for injurious medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic child circumcision in the United States keeps the incidence of non-therapeutic circumcision of children higher than any other industrial nation.[1] The only party to benefit from such third-party payments is the receiving physician, or hospital.

The physicians that most commonly perform non-therapeutic infant circumcisions are obstetricians, pediatricians, and family doctors. They formed an agreement in 2007 to produce a new statement with the AAP as the lead. It was published in 2012 but was poorly received because of its evident omissions of facts. The AAP statement was not re-affirmed is accordance with AAP policy, so it expired on August 31, 2017. The AAP has not replaced the failed 2012 policy statement so it now has no official policy regarding male circumcision.

United States Medicaid is one of the largest third-party payers for medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic circumcision.[2]

The American Academy of Pediatrics created its failed 2012 policy statement (expired in 2017) specifically to preserve and protect third party payment.

Solicitation for circumcision surgery

Intact America commissioned a survey by Qualtrics of the number of times that parents are solicited for a consent for non-therapeutic infant circumcision. The average was 8 times, which resulted in a 143 percent increase in the number of non-therapeutic, medically-unnecessary circumcisions carried out.[3] Giving in to the constant solicitation means that two charges will be incurred:

  1. A hospital service charge or facility fee.
  2. A physician's fee.

Parents are reminded that neonatal circumcision has no medical indication, does not treat disease, is non-therapeutic, unnecessary, and causes life-long irreversible harm because of the loss of the multi-functional foreskin.[4]

See also

External links

References

  1. REFweb Hill, George (April 2021). Circumcision Incidence in Mississippi Icons-mini-file pdf.svg, Research Gate. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
    Quote: Depending on the accuracy of the assumptions, these figures may indicate that cessation of Medicaid payments and other third-party payments is a highly effective way to reduce the incidence of trauma of harmful non-therapeutic circumcision and to improve male health and well-being. (1) (PDF) Circumcision Incidence in Mississippi. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350799429_Circumcision_Incidence_in_Mississippi [accessed Apr 14 2021].
  2. REFjournal Adler PW. Is it lawful to use Medicaid to pay for circumcision?. Journal of Law and Medicine. 2011; 19: 335-353. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  3. REFweb Chapin, Georganne (18 November 2019). Having a Baby Boy? Intact America Warns, ‘Get Ready for the Circumcision Sellers!', prweb, Intact America. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
    Quote: Each year, an estimated 1.5 million baby boys are circumcised in American medical settings. Intact America estimates that if circumcision solicitations were to cease, 600,000 boys—and the men they will become—would be spared every year from the trauma and lifelong consequences of the procedure.
  4. REFjournal Green, Lawrence, McAllister, Ryan, Peterson, Kent, Travis, John. Medicaid coverage of circumcision spreads harm to the poor.. Am J Public Health. April 2009; 99(4): 584. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 14 April 2021.