U.S. to delay Medicare provider payments

[spinbaby]

WASHINGTON - Many health care providers will have to make do next month without a government paycheck or two. The Bush administration says it will not make any Medicare reimbursements to hospitals, doctors and scores of other providers during the last nine days of the current budget year, from Sept. 22-30. Congress ordered the hold.

The providers taking care of older people and the disabled will get paid in full after the new budget year begins Oct. 1. They should not count on any interest on the amount they are owed.

(snip)

By delaying payments, the government moves $5.2 billion in Medicare expenses to next year's budget, rather than the current one.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060824/ap_on_go_pr_wh/medicare_payment_skip

[CoffeeCat]

1. Who do these assclown thugs...

...think they're fooling?

This entire administration is all smoke and mirrors.

What a joke.

I'm surprised Junior didn't put the entire cost of the Iraq war on his
mommy's Diner's Club card.

[Mojorabbit]

2. This article says providers have been warned

about the payment delay. That is a bunch of BS.
My husband is going to have a coronary over this. We have our mortgage to pay. Yikes.

[jayfish]

3. Wow, Talk About Cooking The Books.

Look for fantastic new that the 06' budget deficit dropped even lower (by the amount of the withheld Medicare payments) than expected. Shameless!

Jay

[0007]

15. Ken Lay & the boys are alive and doing well........

After Kenny Boy's name is cleared his family will wear a smile again.

[spinbaby]

16. Why, are they gonna resurrect him?

?

[AnneD]

4. Yeah...and while they are writing that note

will they write one to the bank, utilities and cc companies too?.

[Vidar]

5. Health care providers actually help people, therefore no pay.

Politicians, who do nothing but harm, will be paid as usual.

[spinbaby]

6. That's a basic Republican value

Useful people get less. Doctors don't get paid, Senators do. Workers get peanuts, CEOs get bonuses.

[Vidar]

9. Absolutely, they put the "corrupt" in capitalism.

[rodeodance]

7. the gov ran out of $$, simple as that: looky

...By delaying payments, the government moves $5.2 billion in Medicare expenses to next year's budget, rather than the current one.

"The alternative was to cut reimbursements to providers this year. With this payment shift we avoid that cut,"
Senate Finance Committee spokeswoman Jill Kozeny said.

[Benhurst]

8. When you are The World's Only Superpower,

you can't be expected to pay your bills on time.

[bronxiteforever]

10. Republican=incompetent and unfit to govern period.- ps

I am sure the GOP Doctors won't mind waiting on their checks
this is a kick for this - disclose the GOP scams and damn there are so many of them

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. Y'all got more UNINSURED people in your nation than our total population

.
.
.

Even us up here on welfare have total health coverage,

and Boosh, the decider has deteriorated your health-care system even more -

So guess what

When do you think most doctors are gonna take time off?

Well, if I was a doctor,

probly sumwhere between Sept. 22-30!!

makes sense to me!!

[spinbaby]

14. I'm betting Canadian doctors get paid on time, too

The health-care system is broken and our government is broken. We should pay more attention to how Canadians run things.

[ConcernedCanuk]

21. "We should pay more attention to how Canadians run things" - RIGHT!!!

.
.
.

And with the way our Universal Health Care system works - swipe your Health Card at the hospital/clinic, the doctor is already paid before you get home.

I've never seen a hospital/doctor's bill in my life - they make the "claim" - and the check is in the mail -

My Health Card "swipe" is all they need

Simple, eh?

Well

That's us Canuks . . . .

Simple

[Megahurtz]

12. While he sends $BILLIONS$ to Isreal.

:eyes:

[knitter4democracy]

13. So there, AMA!!

I'm so sick of reading my hubby's AMNews and how much it loves the Republican Party and the current administration. This should teach them just how much of a nothing they are to the GOP.

No doctor should support the GOP again. I know my hubby doesn't, and he's definitely telling the partners whom he works for all about this tomorrow.

[MaineDem]

17. And the GOP here will blame our Governor

They blame everything on our Governor, John Baldacci. His race for re-election is way closer than it should be.

[Brazenly Liberal]

18. Well, now, let's be fiscally realistic here

We have a war to support. We can either pay to get some old folks well or pay to get some young folks dead. Paying to get young folks dead has turned out to be very expensive so the getting old folks well thing has to be put on hold. It would really help the budget if some of them could kick the bucket while they're waiting - what the hell, they're on their last legs anyway. :sarcasm:

[hedgehog]

19. Wow - just in time for the elections!

Assuming that health care providers don't have short term memory loss!

[VegasWolf]

20. The coming Depression will be awful! nt

[leQ]

22. U.S. to Delay Medicare Provider Payments

WASHINGTON -- Many health care providers will have to make do next month without a government paycheck or two. The Bush administration says it will not make any Medicare reimbursements to hospitals, doctors and scores of other providers during the last nine days of the current budget year, from Sept. 22-30. Congress ordered the hold.

The providers taking care of older people and the disabled will get paid in full after the new budget year begins Oct. 1. They should not count on any interest on the amount they are owed.


Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. considers justice issues part of his job: I know at times the system doesn't work even though there are a lot of safeguards. (Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post) Dr. Arthur Wise, a plastic surgeon from New York's Long Island, N.Y., and others are not happy about it. Wise says the hold is unfair and underhanded.

"Obviously, none of our suppliers, our renters or our malpractice insurers are saying, 'Hey, we know you're not going to get paid for nine days of September, so don't bother sending us a check,'" Wise said.

from the Washington Post

looks like enronomics is alive and well.

[Kagemusha]

23. Isn't this what iSoft is being accused of over in Britain?

The company that is making (or trying to make, anyway) a unified patient medical record database for Tony Blair's administration. Big priority, big scandal, huge boondoggle.

[pooja]

24. I bet congress still gets their paychecks.

[Rainscents]

26. I was thinking the same.

As long as fuckers gets paid, what do they care? :mad:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. let me tell you, doctors are not making

a fortune on this anyway.

But, this is a not a good sign.

[MannyGoldstein]

27. Yes, Hard Times For Doctors

I saw one in a Porsche yesterday that was at least a year old - maybe even two.

Oh, the horror!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

30. I am not defending that kind of consumption

but they are entitled to be paid for what they do

[MannyGoldstein]

31. Yes. But.

They average $200k a year - more than twice what docs make in any other country. Their outcomes are no better than docs in other countries. It's not a risky job.

I'm just not seeing how this makes sense.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

33. So if you made 200k and all of a sudden

you only made 50k, but still had all of the expenses, would you be happy?

[MannyGoldstein]

34. Why $50k? Why Not $12k?

What is your number based on? If you think that docs take a 3/4 pay cut on Medicare, you're way, way, way off.

I'm sure that most people hate making less money.

(BTW $200k is after expenses. It's take-home pay.)

[Mojorabbit]

37. My hubby is a family physician

and we sure did not clear 200 grand. We also have employees to pay,medical supplies to buy, malpractice insurance, and office mortgage plus our personal bills. No one is going to cut us a break if we can't make our payments. This will be a real tight month for us. And we sure don't own a porsche.

[MannyGoldstein]

39. Yes, Yes, You're Right

GPs/FPs are, in fact, getting screwed. They have a tougher job than specialists, and they don't get paid nearly as much.

If it were up to me, I'd put GPs/FPs on the top of the pay scale.

[alittlelark]

45. That Doctor must have been 45+ years old.

It takes quite a bit of time to pay off $150,000 +/- of student loans.

[MannyGoldstein]

47. Let's Do The Math, Shall We?

Average physician salary is about $200,000 a year. The average American salary is about $40,000 a year. So docs make, on average, about $160k a year more than average citizens.

It won't take so long to pay off $150,000 or so.

I know docs less than 40 that live on the ocean and own yachts...

[alittlelark]

49. Skip the math... here's a source.

http://www.physicianssearch.com/physician/salary2.html


Those that are in the upper tiers spent an additional 3-5 years specializing adding greatly to their student loans.


People that are willing to spend so many of their young 'fun' years learning to heal ppl and going deeply into debt deserve kudos.

[MannyGoldstein]

50. I Don't Get Your Point

You seem to be confirming what I stated.

Look, docs in other countries make half of what our docs make. Do they work less hard? (No) Do they get worse results? (No)

Why do you think our healthcare costs are twice what they are in virtually every any other country?

[alittlelark]

51. You are confusing Doctors and Medical Insurance Co's

Do some research into how your healthcare $$$ get divvied up.


PS - don't be envious of Doctors unless you spent as much time and $$$$ entering a profession and are making less $$$ than they are.

[MannyGoldstein]

52. ???

I'm not confusing anything, that I can see. Doctors in the US make twice what docs make in other countries. Is this not true? It's not the sole cause of why we spend so much - but it's pretty important.

I've spent ten years researching how our medical dollars are spent - I think I know a thing or two.

[alittlelark]

53. You sound bitter.

I do not know why, but this debate will go nowhere if you continue to cite what 'you' KNOW.

I'll say goodnight.

I wish you good health.

[MadMaddie]

28. Well lets cut to the chase...what the end result will be are

more medical facilities, more doctors etc not accepting medicare payments...which means less care for our elderly...and disabled.

[MannyGoldstein]

29. Probably Not

1. Very few doctors would ever stop accepting Medicare - because they'd go bankrupt. Medicare is, far and away, the largest health care insurer.

2. Medicare will always pay less than other insurers - because they can. They're the biggest, so they can negotiate the best deals (this is an oversimplification of what really happens - but is effectively correct).

3. Financially, docs do plenty well on Medicare cases. Very, very well. Even if they only have Medicare patients, they make several times what an average worker makes (yes, that's after paying malpractice aned whatnot).

[Lars39]

35. Not true:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/17/ap/health/mainD8JI01OO0.shtml

[MannyGoldstein]

40. That Article's About Medicaid, not Medicare

I'd agree that Medicare has some problems - but it's much different than Medicare, which is what we've been discussing.

Easy mistake to make, though.

[Lars39]

43. Here ya go:

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/104/107260.htm

[MannyGoldstein]

46. They'll Say It, But...

The AMA is a lobbying group - until recently, the AMA and AHA (American Hospital Association) spent more on lobbying than any other industry - interesting, no. They always say that they'll curtail services. It almost never happens - the incidence is very, very small. Because virtually everyone over 65 has Medicare. The over-65 set is responsible for most medical needs. Cutting them off would be financial suicide for docs.

(I think it's interesting that when Hezbollah says that they want to murder every Jew on the earth, and launches missiles at Israel, I'm told that it's only idle saber-rattling . But when the AMA claims, yet again, that some doctors say that they might stop taking new Medicare patients... sigh...)

[KT2000]

38. Docs won't accept new medicare

patients where I live. For that reason, a local church opened a sliding scale clinic staffed by a nurse. It started with one evening a week and has now gone to two.
They expected old people. What they got were the working people - mostly young and middle aged who have no insurance.
Oh yea - docs won't makke appointments with people who do not have insurance.

Only problem is that if you need tests or treatment from a specialist, one must make arrangements with the local hospital for a payment plan. They have been known to start trying to seize assets (car, home, furniture) even when payments are being made on time.

Where I live obtaining health care can be brutal.

[MannyGoldstein]

41. Are You Sure You Don't Mean Medicaid?

I suspect that you're referring to Medicaid, which has big problems in some states (mostly red states, of course).

[KT2000]

42. No Medicare - Really

they also quit accepting some of the retired military insurance (can't remmber the name)

In my doctor's office there is a sign that says - If you do not have insurance - then the address of the church's clinic.

[MannyGoldstein]

44. Medicare IS Insurance

So people with Medicare certainly do have insurance - and that's not just semantics.

[KT2000]

55. they don't accept new Medicare

patients.
Of course that is insurance but they will not accept new medicare patients, OK? They refuse to accept patients with other types of insurance too, such as Tri-Care.
They do not accept patients without insurance either.

[Lars39]

48. Tri-Care?

I've been in quite a few doctor's offices lately with signs like that also. :(

[KT2000]

54. Yes - that's it!

thanks

[PSPS]

32. This is the way they reduce the official deficit

These AP payments are booked in the following FY. They've done this before. I think it was Reagan that changed all federal bill paying to 90 days instead of the customary 30 days so they could push 1/6 of outlays onto the following year's books and make it look like the deficit was smaller.

[LynnTheDem]

36. America; a 3rd world nation still thinking it's a contender.

As for "we're number 1!" ... not in anything but number of own citizens jailed.

And Cuba lost how many citizens in Katrina? Oh yeah that's right...NONE.