Medicare Cuts to Doctors Still Up in the Air      

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We have all been hearing about he Bush Administration’s idea to cut payments to doctors seeing patients covered by Medicare.  The issue on the table has been to cut payments to doctors by 10%.  This would create a huge problem for Medicare recipients because many doctors would not be able to afford to continue seeing these most vulnerable patients.  As a result, more and more individuals on Medicare would be without a personal physician, leaving them in a situation where they would be open to the increase of health problems – especially if they had chronic health issues such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

With too few doctors accepting Medicare at current rates, a cut in their payments would be devastating.  This would be a case of saving pennies to spend dollars.  A lot of dollars.  If individuals who had their ongoing health issues monitored and under control and care by a personal physician, lost that relationship, they would very likely end up doing their best to take care of themselves, however, they would probably end up at the emergency room due to lack of proper ongoing care. 

Which makes more sense – paying for a doctor’s visit and some generic medicine or paying for an emergency room visit, hospital visit or hospital stay?  Most of us – including Congress – understand the answer to this.  Congress is trying to find a solution to help doctors and Medicare recipients continue caring for their ongoing needs.

The Bush Administration has given Congress some extra time after the 4th of July break to process this information further and work toward a solution.  At the same time, however, the administration has halted all Medicare payments of claims for the first 10 days of the month, which will only add to the back log of claims that already exists.

We will all have to wait and tune in after the 4th of July to see how the rest of the situation develops.  Hopefully the extra time will make it possible for Congress to continue working toward a workable solution to this complex problem.

Entry Filed under: General-Medicare