Doctors brace for a 21% reduciton in Medicare rates in 8 days
March 23, 2010
The health bill which just passed the house calls for a 21% reduction in Medicare reimbursement rates effective almost immediately, and a further 2% reduction every year until total reimbursements are down 41%. This may produce the $500 billion in savings projected by the CBO, but seniors will likely have a hard time finding a doctor able to accept medicare.
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The costs that doctors pay rise with the general rate of inflation. With that as a given, isn’t cutting doctors’ reimbursement rates just penalizing doctors economically for treating patients?
A doctors expenses rise at a greater rate than cost of living, especially with the new taxes on medical equipment and devices. Meanwhile the size of the 65+ population will grow by 36% within a decade, so you are serving MORE people for under cost.
It is time for doctors to go on strike, opting out of all government healthcare plans, including Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. Since it now looks as if the fascists in Washington will regulate “private” insurance companies as if they were utilities, we may need to opt out of these plans, too.
Gregory Garamoni, Ph.D.
http://www.doctorsonstrike.com
Well, if SGR kicks in a week from now, I think that many docs will join you. I had to fire my own doc today because he started accepting a third party payer contract, and I personally do not like the lack of privacy that you have when your doc takes third party payments.
Wow! I’m really impressed, Dr. Garamoni. Many think that “strike” is too harsh or scarry a word, that it would make doctors look like they don’t care about patients.
But many do not fully comprehend what we are up against with this bill and this administration. They have declared war and we need to start strategizing as if we were fighting for our lives.
For those who have never been on a battlefield, it’s hard to comprehend. When you are fighting for your home and your livelihood, you fight with what ever you have.
This government is after the livelihoods of all American doctors and other medical practitioners for reasons that are strictly personal to the President and have nothing to do with health care.
All hinges on the medical community participating in this farce.
Thank you!
I agree. did you know Dr. Garamoni, that the book Atlas Shrugged was originally to be titled “The Strike”?