Medicare access dying death of 1000 cuts
Congress overrode Pres. Bush’s veto on the Medicare bill, and so a 10.6% across the board Medicare fee cut is postponed for now. Note, this isn’t an inflation adjusted hold– physicians continue to lose money on Medicare patients as rates aren’t keeping up with inflation, but “budget neutral” requirements (e.g., pay for performance, more paperwork) will continue the need to add expenditures to the declining reimbursement. What this does is add further signal to anyone thinking about caring for our nation’s seniors in a primary care setting to get their head examined:
But Representative Jim McCrery, Republican of Louisiana, said the bill “just kicks the can down the road” and does not fix fundamental flaws in the formula for paying doctors. In 18 months, Mr. McCrery said, doctors will face a 20 percent cut in their Medicare payments.
So, as we stall auction programs to stop overpaying for wheelchairs and medical equipment, our primary care docs get yet another warning that the bleeding continues and at some point the ax will fall.
Given the nursing shortage, I don’t think physician extenders will be the answer to bolstering our rapidly aging (and discouraged) primary care folks. Strangely enough, keeping Medicare on life support by passing this bill, vs. fixing the underlying issues, may be what kills it…as a taxpayer who can I get to hold the bag so someone else can pay for it?
