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To: Les H who wrote (33974)	11/6/2000 9:31:56 AM
From: flatsville	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Les-- I'm still confused. You didn't answer my question from the previous post re: my two very real life examples. >>>Or the large increases in HMO premiums or cost-shifting I mentioned prior?<<< ??? If you could be more narrative I might be able to understand what you're referring to or trying to get at. Is it this part of the article? Health economists say provider groups are exaggerating. "The rhetoric has never matched the reality in the Medicare debate," said Gail Wilensky, former head of the agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid and now a health-care researcher at Project Hope. "This amount of reduced spending isn't going to hurt the quality of care or mean that anyone goes without health care. It will be absorbed." Robert Reischauer, a health economist at the Brookings Institution, said the spending reductions will "force providers to trim costs and become a lot more efficient, but I doubt it will do any real harm." Or this part? Even so, provider groups say Americans will be affected as the spending reductions filter down to local hospitals and doctors. "You can't take over $100 billion out of the health system without causing real pain for real people," said Rick Pollack, a vice president at the American Hospital Association. He said a third of hospitals already lose money on Medicare. "We could see some of these hospitals close," Pollack said. "Many others may have to delay purchasing new equipment or hire fewer people." Percy Wootton, president of the American Medical Association, agreed the reductions matter. "We remain deeply concerned that . . . the budget agreement will result in real and permanent cutbacks in physician reimbursements, which could endanger access to quality care," Wootton said.