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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (566958)	5/18/2010 11:26:14 AM
From: i-node	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1579893

>> Texas doctors opting out of Medicare at alarming rate Totally predictable and predicted. This is the tip of the iceberg. I can tell you from the clinics I'm working with we're going to see a LOT of this. Medical care has, as we knew, taken a turn for the worse. You can only demand that private practitioners lose money on a segment for so long. I just got off the phone with a client who typically collects $110K/week from Medicaid; they're collections have been held "pending review" such that they're only being paid $50K/week. People are starting to lose jobs over it. The simple truth is Medicaid doesn't have the money.

To: jlallen who wrote (566958)	5/18/2010 12:26:28 PM
From: Brumar89	Respond to of 1579893

Saw that as the lead story on the front page of the Chronicle this morning. I'm wondering how long the sytem can last. “This new data shows the Medicare system is beginning to implode,” said Dr. Susan Bailey, 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.” ...... Dr. Guy Culpepper, a Dallas-area family practice doctor who says he wrestled with his decision for years before opting out in March. It was, he said, the only way “he could stop getting bullied and take control of his practice.” “You do Medicare for God and country because you lose money on it,” said Culpepper, a graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. “The only way to provide cost-effective care is outside the Medicare system, a system without constant paperwork and headaches and inadequate reimbursement.” ............ In 2008, 42 percent of Texas doctors participating in the survey said they were no longer accepting all new Medicare patients. Among primary-care doctors, the percentage was 62 percent. The impact on doctors has not been lost on their patients. Kathy Sweeney, a Houston retiree, twice has been turned away by specialists because they weren't accepting new Medicare patients. She worries her doctors might have to drop her if Medicare cuts go through and they can't afford to continue in the program. ... With the present government health care programs cratering, do we really need the feds to start a new one?