The Senate decided to close debate on the “doc fix”, setting the stage for the death spiral of Medicare. Already paying below market rates, expect that a substantial number of physicians walk away, as they face a river of red ink from practices being asked to work for free (or less).
June 17, 2010 — In a last-minute shock to physicians, the Senate voted today against postponing a scheduled 21% reduction in Medicare reimbursement to physicians and other health providers.
A compromise proposed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) was defeated largely along party lines, with no Republican support. The compromise was put forward after the Senate had rejected a $140 billion finance package yesterday that would have delayed the cut in Medicare payments to physicians until 2012, along with measures to extend unemployment benefits and provide $24 billion to states to cope with their Medicaid programs.
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Posted by
Vijay Goel, M.D. |
Categories:
payment,
risk |
Congratulations to new Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. We saw health care concerns drive the election of a Republican in the bluest of states.
Yet, most people want health care to be reformed…its not that we don’t want change…its that the current approach to ObamaCare looks to lock out change and lock in an insurance model that people can neither comprehend nor afford nor trust. As Albert Einstein once remarked, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
So what is the right model for health reform? My humble suggestion is that our nation yearns for Health Assurance, not just Health Insurance. What does that mean?
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Doctor Availability Declining with Cuts (via Health Care BS)
Are Primary Care Physicians (PCPs) finally willing to say no to the Fee for Service Medicare approach that has destroyed their practices and profession?
The Mayo Clinic in Arrowhead, Arizona fires a shot across the bow, by informing patients that they will no longer accept Medicare for their primary care doctor visits as of Jan 1 (via Dr. Wes and AZcentral.com)
The discrepancy between what Medicare pays and our cost of providing care acutely impacts the sustainability of our primary care practice. Medicare reimbursements do not cover our actual costs of providing care, and therefore we have recently had to make some difficult decisions that will impact the Arrowhead Family Medicine practice.
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Sustainable health reform requires a solid foundation…unfortunately the proposals we’re seeing out of Washington create a more elaborate house of cards, as we continue to create an elaborate health care ponzi scheme. The House that built Medicare has already saddled our country with Trillions in unfunded liabilities. The proposals we see look to continue to reward a medical-industrial complex that creates and manages diseases rather than focusing on optimizing the health of people.
So what are the criteria of a sustainable health system? continue reading »
When I was a kid, I hit my head a fair bit, including getting knocked out once at football practice. Initial care involved an evaluation, but scans weren’t the norm. Now that they’ve become increasingly common in the evaluation of head injuries in youth, have we gained much?
The Value of CT Scans in Youths Is Questioned in this study in the Lancet (article in NYTimes). continue reading »
Evan Falchuk makes a nice commentary on his blog on the latest facebook health reform memes
“No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.”
How about just changing it to “no one should die, and no one should go broke”? I’d be in favor of that, too.
We need to take the discussion about health care past the broad platitudes and really ask ourselves what we want from health care and how we’re going to pay for it. To date, the debate has largely been about how I can get what I want and have someone else pay for it– and in the end we’re all paying anyway, which puts a crimp into that approach.
So, what do I want…I want a convenient and responsive everyday delivery system (that works like most retail services) and protection against unpredictable catastrophic events. I’d also like some help getting my weight down and my exercise up in a way that fits a hectic schedule. I’m willing to pay a few hundred dollars a month for this… What is it that you want and how much are you willing to pay?
