Medicare Cutting seniors coverage by a staggering 4.3% on January 1, 2006.

[Imagevision]

Unless Congress acts this year, Medicare will cut the amount it reimburses doctors for treating America's seniors by a staggering 4.3% on January 1, 2006.

In fact, the 2004 Medicare Trustees report predicts that doctors' payment rates will be cut by 26% from 2006-2013. If these cuts take effect, doctors all over the country may be forced to close their doors to Medicare patients. That means that many seniors will have their healthcare options drastically reduced.

The problem lies not with the physicians, but with the Medicare program itself. Our seniors need good doctors who can provide quality healthcare. But while the cost of treating Medicare patients has been rising dramatically, Medicare payments to doctors have not kept pace.

If the 4.3% cut takes effect on January 1, 2006, many doctors will no longer be able to afford to treat Medicare patients, and America's seniors will suffer the consequences.

http://downingstreetmemo.com/

[shoelace414]

1. the free market should fix this

we need less regulation.. perhaps if we just axed all of medicare, medical costs wouild come down and everyone would get a puppy.

:sarcasm:

[PuraVidaDreamin]

2. as far as *co is concerned not enough folks were taken out by katrina

[Skidmore]

3. I disagree that

doctors are not a part of the problem. As long as physicians will not allow public scrutiny of bad practictioners, malpractice insurance rates will continue to rise. As long as doctors continue to take expensive freebies from pharmaceutical companies, medications will remain high in cost.

There is enough blame to go around regarding the state of health care in this country. My personal belief is that insurance companies should be restricted to offering catastrophic or chronic care policies, and routine medical needs should be set at rates that are affordable as out of pocket expenditures. Pharmaceutical companies should be required to funnel their profits back into their R&D, and if they take public funding for studies they should be required to supply those medications at affordable rates without exception. Public marketing of medications should be stopped because too many people are self diagnosing and I believe many medications are being prescribed unnecessarily.

I'm tired of hearing about how maligned physicians are. There are many good physicians with good hearts, but honestly, I've never met a poor one who has survived medical school. Without exception, in my neck of the woods, they are considered big business and at the top of the food chain.

At any rate, the whole system needs to be overhauled, physicians not excepted.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Compassionate conservatism, my arse

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URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[bluestateguy]

5. Oh well, I'm sure people's private insurance will take care of it

or they can just pay out of pocket with all the money they have in the bank.

:eyes:

[Maraya1969]

6. Link?