Physicians say they are shunning Medicare because they are tired of dealing with the yearly threat of a payment cut under federal law requiring that reimbursement rates be adjusted annually based on a formula tied to the health of the economy.
“Ditched by your doctor – blame Medicare“, CNN Money, Parija Kavilanz, senior writer (March 2, 2010)
Choice of doctor is vital to any notion of health care reform. As Congress considers health care reform, however, here is a startling fact. Medicare is already constricting physician choice by cutting pay to physicians.
Now President Obama is on record as stating that Americans will still be able to choose their doctors under the health care reform. Yet, he and his Democratic cohorts are responsible for a 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement rates. And that is before the cuts planned in the health care reform legislation.
The AARP has inexplicably failed seniors abysmally on the issue. If Medicare continues to reduce benefits to physicians, seniors will be hard pressed to find medical care from any doctor, much less their preferred physician. If those are the promises of health care reform, seniors would be well advised to pass on Obamacare.