WHERE'S THE NEWS COVERAGE ON THIS??? THIS IS EXTREMELY SERIOUS!!!
SERIOUS WARNING: FOR OVER 43 MILLION AMERICANS WHO RECEIVE MEDICARE, CUTS IN DOCTOR PAY THREATENS THEIR ABILITY TO FIND AND RETAIN DOCTORS QUALIFED TO PROVIDE THEIR CARE.
If anyone honestly believes the current party in control has any consideration for the health and well-being of American citizens in their attempts to nationalize management of our country’s health care system, YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN, RIGHT NOW!
This is not a discussion of the big health care debate but a focus on one particular issue that demonstrates clearly, they simply have no idea of what’s involved in health care and why there are so few qualified physicians in many fields and geographical areas.
Moving forward is legislation that would cut what doctors receive as reimbursement from Medicare by 21.2%. Yes, that means for every five dollar they have been receiving, they now get $0.79. For Medicare recipients, elderly and disabled, who need primary care physicians, the search can often be futile. Meanwhile, the number of those in need keeps rising if for no other reason than currently practicing doctors find they are not being paid enough to sustain their practice when dependent on insurance payments from Medicare. Right now, the House voted to suspend the cut; however, the SENATE DISMISSED EARLY FOR THE WEEKEND FAILING TO TAKE ACTION.
VERY IMPORTANT: This cut in doctor’s pay is not part of the big health care bill for which Barack Obama staged the White House “dog and pony” show yesterday. This cut is part of current law which ties physician reimbursement in with the overall state of the economy. Unless Congress acts, the cuts take place effective Monday, March 1. A provision to prevent this reimbursement cut to go into effect had been part of the recently passed jobs bill, but was removed. There was one recent instance where Congress could have but refused to act.
Supporting Articles:
CNN:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/24/news/economy/doctors_ditching_medicare_patients/
WFAA-TV, Dallas:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Medicare-cuts-to-doctors-loom-85407017.html
Our attempts to research this matter have been extremely difficult. We heard a report on the Fox News Network and then went to work searching the Internet. There are various blogs on the subject but almost zero hard core news coverage.
Let’s be real, a pay decrease greater than 20% is significant. Doctors, particularly ones in private practice, face tremendous overhead to operate their operations not the least of which is malpractice insurance. It is truly getting to the point where doctors can’t afford to continue to practice medicine or at very least given the awesome responsibilities, high stress, and uncertainty about the future of the nation’s health care delivery system, the kind of intelligent hardworking people who are talented enough to become doctors have far better income earning potential elsewhere.
Put this another way, does anyone really want a cheap doctor?
Doctors should be paid well. Their income should be great enough that the profession attracts very smart, compassionate, hardworking people. Look at how the number of American born and raised people is not going into medicine and how much we depend on people from overseas to come to America and become our doctors. While we should be proud to be able to extend the American dream in a very important career to come to America and contribute in such a crucial profession, we don’t feel we are being prejudiced to suggest a profession that relies as much on interpersonal relationships as medicine where the doctor and patient have common experiences from which to build a relationship, that the doctor can understand nuances of discussion, we need good American doctors.
If anyone honestly believes the current party in control has any consideration for the health and well-being of American citizens in their attempts to nationalize management of our country’s health care system, YOU HAVE A LOT TO LEARN, RIGHT NOW!
This is not a discussion of the big health care debate but a focus on one particular issue that demonstrates clearly, they simply have no idea of what’s involved in health care and why there are so few qualified physicians in many fields and geographical areas.
Moving forward is legislation that would cut what doctors receive as reimbursement from Medicare by 21.2%. Yes, that means for every five dollar they have been receiving, they now get $0.79. For Medicare recipients, elderly and disabled, who need primary care physicians, the search can often be futile. Meanwhile, the number of those in need keeps rising if for no other reason than currently practicing doctors find they are not being paid enough to sustain their practice when dependent on insurance payments from Medicare. Right now, the House voted to suspend the cut; however, the SENATE DISMISSED EARLY FOR THE WEEKEND FAILING TO TAKE ACTION.
VERY IMPORTANT: This cut in doctor’s pay is not part of the big health care bill for which Barack Obama staged the White House “dog and pony” show yesterday. This cut is part of current law which ties physician reimbursement in with the overall state of the economy. Unless Congress acts, the cuts take place effective Monday, March 1. A provision to prevent this reimbursement cut to go into effect had been part of the recently passed jobs bill, but was removed. There was one recent instance where Congress could have but refused to act.
Supporting Articles:
CNN:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/24/news/economy/doctors_ditching_medicare_patients/
WFAA-TV, Dallas:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Medicare-cuts-to-doctors-loom-85407017.html
Our attempts to research this matter have been extremely difficult. We heard a report on the Fox News Network and then went to work searching the Internet. There are various blogs on the subject but almost zero hard core news coverage.
Let’s be real, a pay decrease greater than 20% is significant. Doctors, particularly ones in private practice, face tremendous overhead to operate their operations not the least of which is malpractice insurance. It is truly getting to the point where doctors can’t afford to continue to practice medicine or at very least given the awesome responsibilities, high stress, and uncertainty about the future of the nation’s health care delivery system, the kind of intelligent hardworking people who are talented enough to become doctors have far better income earning potential elsewhere.
Put this another way, does anyone really want a cheap doctor?
Doctors should be paid well. Their income should be great enough that the profession attracts very smart, compassionate, hardworking people. Look at how the number of American born and raised people is not going into medicine and how much we depend on people from overseas to come to America and become our doctors. While we should be proud to be able to extend the American dream in a very important career to come to America and contribute in such a crucial profession, we don’t feel we are being prejudiced to suggest a profession that relies as much on interpersonal relationships as medicine where the doctor and patient have common experiences from which to build a relationship, that the doctor can understand nuances of discussion, we need good American doctors.
It's not just the poor pay physicians receive from Medicare, but by agreeing to participate as a service provider, the doctor agrees to all kinds of restrictions and rules that he must apply uniformly to receive reimbursement where the slightest deviation from the unyielding regulations can lead the doctor to being charged with noncompliance and fraud.
Sadly, right now, we need doctors, period, and the bar for what qualifies for entry into the profession is falling when adequate pay is not forthcoming.
Beginning Monday, big changes are in the wind that will absolutely harm the quality of medicine for those who require Medicare coverage. Good health care isn’t cheap. Who wouldn’t love to have other options than Medicare? The sad reality is most of us when the time comes do not have that choice.
Medicare is a mess RIGHT NOW. More and more patients are not having their needs met. The number of Medicare patients is about the skyrocket as baby boomers reach retirement age. One mantra of the current medical system proposals suggests Medicare for all. It’s bad enough seniors who’ve worked all their lives or disabled citizens who through no fault of their own must endure these horrors. We must fight for those citizens to get effective compassionate care. We further must fight to make sure this kind of disaster is never extended to the population at large.
Sadly, right now, we need doctors, period, and the bar for what qualifies for entry into the profession is falling when adequate pay is not forthcoming.
Beginning Monday, big changes are in the wind that will absolutely harm the quality of medicine for those who require Medicare coverage. Good health care isn’t cheap. Who wouldn’t love to have other options than Medicare? The sad reality is most of us when the time comes do not have that choice.
Medicare is a mess RIGHT NOW. More and more patients are not having their needs met. The number of Medicare patients is about the skyrocket as baby boomers reach retirement age. One mantra of the current medical system proposals suggests Medicare for all. It’s bad enough seniors who’ve worked all their lives or disabled citizens who through no fault of their own must endure these horrors. We must fight for those citizens to get effective compassionate care. We further must fight to make sure this kind of disaster is never extended to the population at large.
Our Congress has setup an environment where the system is so bad that even the most compassionate highly motivated people cannot continue to practice medicine.
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