Another health care reality check: One-third of doctors nationwide say they’ll be forced to limit the number of new Medicare patients they accept if proposed 4.4 percent cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates take effect in January, as scheduled, according to a Dec. 11 Eagle article.
And many Kansas doctors and their patients would be affected. In Wichita, some 380 physicians could reduce their Medicare client list. The reason is simple economics: Medicare payment rates already fall short of the actual costs of treatment. Kevin Hoppock, a family doctor and president of Wichita Clinic, called the trend of Medicare cuts “unsustainable.”
Instead of applying Band-Aids, Congress must find a long-term fix for the Medicare reimbursement system. One motivating factor, say senior advocates: Medicare patients vote.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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8 Comments
Why are they reducing Medicare payments? Is there any justification for it?
bahrol,Sure there’s justification! It looks better on today’s bottom line. When it costs much more later, well, that’ll be somebody else’s problem!
People who rely on social security to take care of them when they retire are going to have a rude awakening. It was never meant to take care of retirees, only supplement their retirement income. We all better start saving our pennies, or we maybe eating at the Lord’s Dinner everynight when we can no longer work.
The problem is Social Security has been labled as a retirement fund by too many. Its original intent has been long forgotten.
If medicare fraud could be controlled, the cuts wouldn’t be necessary. There are too many medical outlets, doctors, nursing homes, etc, using it as a gravy train. Make fraud punishable by serious time with bubba, and the government might be able to curtail most of it.
JM,Medicare is hardly a gravy trian for the medical community. It pays less and costs more to collect than most insurance companies, and more and more doctors are refusing medicare patients, or refusing to accept assignment. Like anything else, someone will always find a way to defraud it, but the vast majority of medical providers are making little money from Medicare.
I’m not aware of doctors who refuse Medicare patients (many of whom have supplemental insurance)because everyone over the age of 65 has Medicare, they make up the largest populaton of patients and require the most medical services.It’s the Medicaid patients that more doctors are refusing to see because the reimbursement is lower.Once again, it’s the poor who get left behind.
Da,I know doctors who have had to place limits on the number of Medicare patients in their practice.See, every time congress gets busy and cuts medicare payments, doctors have to charge more to their patients with private insurance coverage, so private insurers end up subsidizing Medicare, which is one reason health insurance is so expensive.Congress pats itself on the back for saving money and we make it up, or more, in higher premiums, and the system keeps spinning higher and higher. When enough people can no longer afford coverage, this congressional ponzi scheme will collapse, and no one will have coverage.
You’re certainly right about the costs of health care getting out of control. My grandson swallowed a nickel a few weeks ago and it lodged in his esophagus. He had to be admitted to the hospital for about 3 hrs. They put him out for less than a minute (didn’t even start an IV), took a probe and plucked it out. His dad is just starting a new job and their medical insurance hadn’t kicked in yet. The total bill was over $8,000.It’s just nuts, no one can afford health care unless they have decent insurance or are poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.