Doctors leaving Medicare patients in droves

[Guest guest]

I am a Medicare patient as well as a number of subscribers and I thought I would

pass this along as they want to talk to their doctors about this dilema.

May 7, 2010

Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare at alarming rates, frustrated by

reimbursement cuts they say make participation in government-funded care of

seniors unaffordable. Two years after a survey found nearly half of Texas

doctors weren't taking some new Medicare patients, new data shows 100 to 200 a

year are now ending all involvement with the program. Before 2007, the number of

doctors opting out averaged less than a handful a year.

“This new data shows the Medicare system is beginning to implode,” said Dr.

, president of the Texas Medical Association. “If Congress doesn't

fix Medicare soon, there'll be more and more doctors dropping out and Congress'

promise to provide medical care to seniors will be broken.”More than 300 doctors

have dropped the program in the last two years, including 50 in the first three

months of 2010, according to data compiled by the Houston Chronicle. Texas

Medical Association officials, who conducted the 2008 survey, said the numbers

far exceeded their assumptions.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7009807.html

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We're Leaving Medicare to Save Our Practice

By Lee Gross, M.D., North Port, Fla. 8/4/2010

Some family doctors say they're staying in Medicare and accepting new Medicare

patients because, philosophically, it's the right thing to do. But after

participating in Medicare for several years, I've developed a different

perspective. I think keeping my practice open is the right thing to do -- for my

community, as well as for me. Unfortunately, my practice may fold if we stay in

Medicare.

Dr. Lee Gros says: I practice in Florida with another family physician. We're

exactly what most family physicians used to be -- small-business owners in an

independent practice. We stopped accepting new Medicare patients this past

January, a gut-wrenching but necessary step. We plan to stop participating in

Medicare by the end of this year or the next, and we're likely to opt out of

Medicare altogether.

http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/opinion/20100804pt\

ctrpt-gross.html

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In Texas, 38 percent of primary-care doctors will take new Medicare patients.

The Mayo Clinic is opting out of Medicare in several locations because the low

payment rates don't allow the organization to provide the quality care its

culture demands. One financial planner reported that well over half of his

physician clients have asked him to restructure their finances so they can

retire in 2013 – the year before the main provisions of the new health overhaul

law take effect.

Doctors are on the front lines of Obamacare's changes. The legislation requires

more than $500 billion in cuts to Medicare to fund new entitlement spending,

including a 21 percent cut in physician payments. Congress just postponed the

cut until December, but in January, it will be 30 percent. Every delay adds tens

of billions of dollars to the cost of a permanent fix.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/medicare-259117-doctors-patients.html

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu

[Guest guest]

>

> I am a Medicare patient as well as a number of subscribers and I thought I

would pass this along as they want to talk to their doctors about this dilema.

_____________________________

I think everyone who has Medicare coverage, or will in the near future due to

age or retirement, should contact their own personal government

representatives.........and include this post that Lottie did, with specific

information and the links.

We need to be a loud voice complaining.

C.