Medicare Paycuts and Physicians

[rs2006]

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Hi all,

I am a fourth year med student at a US Medical School and have been looking at different specialties and have been reading about this thing which says that Medicare will be cutting their payments by 25% to doctors sometime in the next 5 years-- is this true since I see on all the websites that the minimum amount most physicians make is approx 150k/yr and many other specialties (ie anesthesiology, rads 400k/yr-- if you were to cut the salaries in these specialties by 25%, it would not make much of a difference-- what is 300k vs 400k, etc)---- what gives? Any thoughts.

Thanks.

 

[Suppuration]

Hi all,

I am a fourth year med student at a US Medical School and have been looking at different specialties and have been reading about this thing which says that Medicare will be cutting their payments by 25% to doctors sometime in the next 5 years-- is this true since I see on all the websites that the minimum amount most physicians make is approx 150k/yr and many other specialties (ie anesthesiology, rads 400k/yr-- if you were to cut the salaries in these specialties by 25%, it would not make much of a difference-- what is 300k vs 400k, etc)---- what gives? Any thoughts.

Thanks.

Look at it a different way. You're part of a small group of internists who practice in a town that is predominantly elderly Medicare patients. The practice generally grosses $2 million a year, and each year your earnings have been getting pinched while costs are rising. Now, over the next five years, you may be faced with running the same practice on about $1.5 million (with five more years of increasing costs). So with 25% less you still have to lease office space, pay employees, purchase/maintain equipment, retain insurance, etc.

Such a scenario would have profoundly negative consequences for physicians and patients all across the country. It's not just a matter of your salary x 0.75 in 2010.

 

[Suppuration]

Oh yeah, one more thing. The difference between 400K and 300K is $100,000. If you find that number to be inconsequential in terms of your salary then you need to be dragged out back and have your ass kicked.