Gaba, Gaba does

“CMS is doling out just 12.5% of the monies owed to various carriers … **evenly** to every carrier which is owed money, regardless of how much or little they’re owed … Are they legally required to make the payments this way, or could they use their discretion to prioritize certain carriers over others if they wanted to?” [emphasis in original]

Aye, thar’s the rub, no? After all, if they do “prioritize” payments, then they’re guilty of playing favorites, and if they don’t, they’re still doing so, no?

The crux of Charles’ concern is that the Big Boys can likely weather the storm, but these delays pose the very real risk of sinking smaller players (think CO-OPs writ large).

In your humble blogger’s opinion, this is really just going according to plan; that is, single-payer has always been the end-game (just ask Herr Gruber), and this is just another step along that path.