Third-party payment

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. 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 2008 to produce a new statement with the AAP as the lead. It was published in 2012 but was poorly received because of its evidence omissions of facts.

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

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

External links

• The Foreskin Industry, Acroposthion. Retrieved 2 March 2020.