One of the anesthesia folks posted some information on getting involved in an important Medicare reform bill, which would affect us all. There's an easy template on the AMA website that you can fill out in 5-10 minutes to draft a letter of support of this bill to your senator/house representative.

Check out this thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=210072

One of the anesthesia folks posted some information on getting involved in an important Medicare reform bill, which would affect us all. There's an easy template on the AMA website that you can fill out in 5-10 minutes to draft a letter of support of this bill to your senator/house representative.

Check out this thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=210072


Thanks AJM...I wouldn't have known about it had you not posted this here. I DID MY PART. :) :) I am also cutting and posting my response to what I wrote (WHICH CAN TAKE AS LITTLE AS 5 MINUTES). Obviously, mine took longer because I truthfully embellished it a little more. ;) ;) I am NOT BRAGGING, but after I completed law school, I realized that you HAVE to make these letters more touchy-feely, even if you are completely honest!! I am also getting more and more involved in legislation here in NJ AND nationally (hoping to get the AOA-American Osteopathic Association-- position) Mine is only MY WAY of expressing my opinions, so please don't start critiquing it for flaws. In any case, HERE IT IS:



Dear Sir/madam,

I am writing in reponse to HR 2356. I am currently a medical student at UMDNJ and have recently finished my JD from Rutgers-School of Law in Camden, New Jersey. As a future physician, I would like to sincerely express my support of the proposed bill.

Critical legislation that would protect patients’ access to care by stopping impending Medicare physician payment cuts has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. The Preserving Patient Access to Physicians Act of 2005 (HR 2356) calls for increasing the amount Medicare reimburses physicians by at least 2.7% in 2006 and 2.6% (est.) in 2007. If Congress doesn’t act soon, Medicare will cut reimbursement payments to physicians by 26% over the next six years—including a 4.3% cut on January 1, 2006. Physicians are the foundation of the Medicare program: prescription drugs, diagnostic tests, and medical treatment all require physician involvement.

Reducing reimbursements will have a tremendous negative impact on not only the current state of medical profession, but also the future. It will deter today's college students and those thinking of pursuing a career in medicine. While I agree that reimbursements should not the sole reason for pursuing a career in medicine, the truth of the matter is that in attending medical school, one has to amass tremendous amounts of debt. I, for example, will have well in excess of $200,000 in debt (not including interest), I can only hope to eventually repay my debt if I am able to make a salary which affords me to.

The pursuit of money was never a goal of mine while I was deciding to apply to medical school. On the contrary, my pursuit was to help people, especially those who are the elderly or those who not able to have any access to healthcare. I had plans to go into a primary care field so I can better serve those who are truly in need. However, if the payment rates continue to decline, as they have since 1991, my future aspirations may only end up being a dream instead of a reality. I will be forced to look at medicine as something OTHER than the pursuit of helping people. I will be forced to look at the economics of medicine, which is something that I never imagined I would have to do. It becomes a very difficult choice: do I choose to pursue a career in which I can help the elderly and people with little availability to healthcare, or do I choose to repay my loans and save for my children's education some day. Having to make this decision is excruciatingly difficult. How does one go about paying off close to half a million dollars of debt (after interest), a figure that does NOT even take into consideration a house mortgage, a car for travelling, or money saved for the education of my children? Yes, with these cuts in payments, I will unfortunately have to make that difficult decision someday. Yes, I will be fored to view medicine in a totally different light.

Furthermore, there is grave inequality in the manner in which the costs are being off set by the benefits. The evidence is glaring even at mere face value. The cuts total 26% (nearly 1/4 of ALL reimbursements) in the next 6 years, about the time when I enter practice. On the contrary, the bill ONLY asks for an increase of 5.3%. Taking into consideration that reimbursements have systematically and steadily been cut for physicians since 1991, the damage reaches above and beyond a critical point or threshold if this bill is NOT co-sponsered.

Maybe an example of how drastic the cuts would have on medicine will better illustrate the problem. Take, for example, an average family practitioner whose salary is $100,000 before taxes. If the cuts go into effect, the salary could foreseeably reach to approximately $75,000 before taxes. After taxes (assuming 30-40%), the salary becomes approximately $45,000 annually, or close to $4,000/month. While this salary surely looks impressive at face value, please understand that having ONLY an educational debt of in excess of $150,000 (in other words, not looking at mortgages, etc.), the monthly payment ONLY for the educational debt amasses to approximately $3,000. Thereby, this leaves the physician with approximately $1,000/ month for ALL his/her personal finances, including but not limited to car payments, house payments, bills, etc.. There is little chance that he/she will be able to make ends meets, and there is virtually no chance of him/her being able to save enough money for his/her children's education. Therefore, if the bill is not passes, there could be tremendous short as well as long term consequences.

For the sake of my future patients and profession, these cuts must be stopped. If not, Medicare payment rates in 2014 will be little more than half what they were in 1991, after adjusting for practice cost inflation. As it is, Medicare payments already lag behind increases in practice costs. If this bill is not passed, I have come to a cross-roads as a future physician. If this bill is not passed, patients will ultimately suffer. If this bill is not passed, it will deter future people from applying to medical schools (thereby not having to amass over $150,000 of debt with little hope of re-paying it). If this bill is not passed, the profession and the health of this country suffers.

Please protect America’s patients and physicians by cosponsoring HR 2356

Sweet. :thumbup:
I did one too, didn't embellish as much, though. Took me only 5 minutes. :)

IMO it's important to make your opinions known to your elected representatives. Apparently the folks in congress say that they are not hearing from physicians. Since healthcare is a HUGE issue in public policy, it's our responsibility to make ourselves heard, otherwise the government will continue to come up with measures affecting healthcare that make little sense from a practitioner's point of view.

It is interesting to see the income trending down worldwide. The only Western state I know to increase physician income is the UK under Tony Blair. Everyone else is cutting reimbursement. I pity internists and FP`s who are reaching "European standard" with an ever increasing litigation threat and the student loans to pay. Well, actually French, German (with solo or group practice) or British GP`s make MORE on average if you consider the average 80000 pounds in the UK. AND there is no expectaton to be ready at 11pm for routine telephone questions.
Finally I have to say I never understood the history of how Internists and FP let subspecialists earn 100% to X00% more.
Solution: stop trial lawyers, stop 500.000.000.000 $ adventures like Iraq, spend money on engineers and scientists to stay No1 economically and boost growth. All this unfortunately unlikely to happen. Therefore primary care physicians likely to be the big loosers.

hey AJM...i know i embellished a little, but sometimes you kinda have to, especially with freakin' politicians and lawyers....BTW, I sent an email out to my ENTIRE SCHOOL in hopes of having even 10% reply...it's still more than before...i have also emailed the people in charge of NJAOPS (NJ Association of Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons) and NJMS (NJ Med. Society) hoping that they could pass the word to other physicians in the state to take more of a part in this...in any case, it was a little disappointing to see that there were so few replies to this thread even though more than 140 people have seen it...well, all i can hope for is that they are privately writing these letters w/o posting that they did...

henle: you are also right in a lot of what you said...while i am not knowledgable in healthcare salaries, etc in europe, one thing i ABSOLUTELY agree with is that the freakin' lawyers have absolutely eaten this country's healthcare alive....HOWEVER, I partly blame the physicians themselves for ALLOWING the lawyers to become this way...in other words, one thing I have noticed is that there isn't enough "bonding" in medicine UNTIL a lawsuit has already happened...i think if we can become more of a close knit society (look at the nurses, chiropractors, etc.), we can "pseudo-reclaim" the "glory" days where we had autonomy in our practice and didn't have the threat of a lawsuit dangling over our heads like a guillatine (sp?) or having the HMOs breathing down our necks telling us what we can and cannot do in our practice and then DECIDING FOR US what THEY feel like paying...I can only hope that the "next generation" of "us" can be more collaborative and close knit ("next generation = those who are within 10 years of practice or less + fellows + residents + interns + med students).

I am SO READY to finsih med school and get out there in the "real world" and fight for US from both a medical and legal perspective.....but I can't do it if I have minimal/no support from "us"...As Uncle Sam said, "I WANT YOU!!!" :D :D :D :) :) :)