Friday, January 1, 2010

Mayo Clinic of Arizona Cuts Medicare -- Shape of Things to Come


The Mayo Clinic of Arizona, touted as having a superior model for high quality yet cost effective medical treatment, announced it will no longer serve Medicare patients. This is not only an embarrassment to President Barack Obama who cited the institute as an exemplary stating last summer, “(The Mayo Clinic offers…) the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm.”

To continue to do this, the Mayo clinic must sever its relationship with Medicare, medical service that has over 45,000 subscribers dependent on it for their care funding. The medical profession cannot accept Medicare without suffering financial loss. As such institutions like the Mayo Clinic and private doctors are increasingly turning away the senior population and disabled citizens, the segment of our society most in need of health care, as they cannot sustain the financial impact.

The following article from Bloomberg.com details the Mayo Clinic’s decision along with broader issues relevant to this dangerous reality.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHoYSI84VdL0

This story is disturbing enough given that the Baby Boomer generation is rapidly entering their senior years; however, given the rush to have the Federal Government assume health care management, the threat to all citizens needing medical attention becomes much more crucial.

It is incumbent on all of us to understand these issues and demand our elected officials keep the government out of destroying the best health care in the world.

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