Senate Rejects Doc Fix

Started by NinerNiner999
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NinerNiner999

NinerNiner999

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Tonight the senate has refused to repeal the 21% cut in medicare reimbursement, bucking a trend spanning over a decade of last-minute repeals. All patients who carry medicare will be reimbursing 21% less to physicians. Thoughts? Surprised?
 
Well, if it's not economically viable to continue having Medicare patients in practice, then the only recourse left is for many more physicians to stop seeing them or scale back the number of patients with Medicare. They may not want to do that, but how else will a physician be able to survive. It sucks to be put in such an awkward position, but chances are, the same recipients of Medicare are also the same people who vote for these idiot lawmakers who continue to insist on stiffing doctors. They think that there are no consequences to their actions, but a breaking point will always come, and when it does, it comes with a vengeance. A doctor can serve no greater good, if that good intends to put him out of business.
Then of course, there are the EMTALA hamstrunged specialties. I honestly don't know what will happen with you folks. All I can say is, good luck.
 
Questions ...

1. Is this official this time??? No more push backs, freezes, etc?

2. Correct me if I'm wrong, but every physician who is not 100% forced to accept Medicare will no longer take it? Right? Isn't this going to really, really hurt said population?

3. Aren't all private insurances going to follow suit and drop their reimbursements through the floor?

4. Since this is a huge blow to Medicare patients, is this the first step in a long line of being forced to see a certain amount of Medicare patients to renew license?
 
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JaggerPlate said:
3. Aren't all private insurances going to follow suit and drop their reimbursements through the floor?
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I heard from a Chiropractor's Office Manager that BCBS cut reimbursement by ~16%. I don't know if this is an across the board cut or only for what Chiropractors bill for. Can anyone confirm?
 
I'm glad to see that this topic is being addressed. To me it looks like it is official and certainly presents a crossroads in medicine. As mentioned previously, this cut is much more than 21% when it comes to docs in private practice who spend the first half of the day seeing pts just to meet overhead. I wouldn't count on private insurers to take the "high road" in this situation. It seems that insurance companies will take any opportunity/excuse to bolster their bottom line. There is already a problem with seniors trying to find pcp's who take medicare. This is only going to exacerbate a serious issue with access.

I have no idea what will happen with the issue of tying licensure to acceptance of medicare.

I hope that someone with more information/experience has some optimistic views. I can't see anything encouraging here...
 
bunnymd said:
I'm glad to see that this topic is being addressed. To me it looks like it is official and certainly presents a crossroads in medicine. As mentioned previously, this cut is much more than 21% when it comes to docs in private practice who spend the first half of the day seeing pts just to meet overhead. I wouldn't count on private insurers to take the "high road" in this situation. It seems that insurance companies will take any opportunity/excuse to bolster their bottom line. There is already a problem with seniors trying to find pcp's who take medicare. This is only going to exacerbate a serious issue with access.

I have no idea what will happen with the issue of tying licensure to acceptance of medicare.

I hope that someone with more information/experience has some optimistic views. I can't see anything encouraging here...
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Just shows that much of the current admins's health care reform is one horrifying shell game--and moves around monies we don't have along with those benefits already covering others in need--which ultimately equates seniors as getting less, while others that haven't paid much into any system or that were irresponsible get more.

I think I read that not one republican in the senate supported this move to cut reimbursement for medicare. I see very bad things in the future.
 
jl lin said:
Just shows that much of the current admins's health care reform is one horrifying shell game--and moves around monies we don't have along with those benefits already covering others in need--which ultimately equates seniors as getting less, while others that haven't paid much into any system or that were irresponsible get more.

I think I read that not one republican in the senate supported this move to cut reimbursement for medicare. I see very bad things in the future.
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If you think this has anything to do with Democrats vs. Republicans, you're sadly mistaken. Every year for the last dozen, whoever is in power muscles through a bill repealing the cut for 1-2 more years. Whoever is in the minority votes, en masse, against it, saying "Look at XXX! They're voting to increase spending!" Then they just trade the next time Congress switches. Politics is definitely a shell-game, but both sides are playing.
 
jl lin said:
I think I read that not one republican in the senate supported this move to cut reimbursement for medicare. I see very bad things in the future.
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I'm not sure if I'm reading this right, so correct me if I'm not getting it. You think that Republicans SUPPORT the doc fix?

The GOP filibustered this bill, that is why the Democrats couldn't save reimbursements from being cut.

Two problems here...the freaking filibuster, which is probably the worst thing to have ever been invented in the history of the U.S. government, and the fact that doc fix was included in a bill with a bunch of other things rather than being its own bill.
 
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Is there anything we can do about this at this point? Or is there no changing to what they decided?
 
EM2BE said:
Is there anything we can do about this at this point? Or is there no changing to what they decided?
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Its entirely possible they make any fix when they next have a session retroactive. Physician's incomes for the last two weeks worth of patients and probably the next month are going to be affected for sure though.

The big issue is that they refuse to permanently repeal it, because that would leave a $250 billion dollar hole in the budget (never mind that the hole is already there because they just keep putting temporary patches on it. Congress is about nothing if not accounting tricks, just look at the stuff they pulled to make it look like the healthcare reform bill would "save" the government money)
 
Raryn said:
It was allowed to take place from every article I've seen so far...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/politics/18cong.html?hp

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/17/AR2010061705548.html?hpid=topnews

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704289504575312821354026314.html?mod=ITP_pageone_1
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And then...as expected...the Senate got their shiz together, pulled the Medicare stuff out of the larger spending bill and passed it on its own. The House has yet to follow but likely will.
 
gutonc said:
And then...as expected...the Senate got their shiz together, pulled the Medicare stuff out of the larger spending bill and passed it on its own. The House has yet to follow but likely will.
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Ah, my mistake, you are correct that the senate passed it the next day (i.e. this morning).

June 18, 2010
Senate passes six-month SGR fix
The U.S. Senate passed an amended version of H.R. 3962, now called the "Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010," by unanimous consent this afternoon. This legislation provides a 2.2 percent Medicare physician payment update for six months, from June 1 through Nov. 30, in lieu of the 21 percent cut scheduled for 2010.
Unfortunately, the U.S. House of Representatives is not scheduled to hold any floor votes until the evening of June 22. As a result, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is instructing its carriers to lift the hold on processing claims for services provided on or after June 1, and to begin processing them under the law's negative update requirement. In other words, claims will begin to be paid today at the 21 percent lower rate on a first-in/first-out flow basis.
Once H.R. 3962 is passed by the House and signed by President Obama, CMS will retroactively adjust any June claims that have been paid.
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If the cut cut happens, the temporary result will be that no providers will take Medicare unless they are on call at the hospital.

As was discussed in a prior thread, the Feds can simply make accepting Medicare mandatory as part of your DEA licensing process, essentially making us into indentured servants of Washington.
 
GeneralVeers said:
If the cut cut happens, the temporary result will be that no providers will take Medicare unless they are on call at the hospital.

As was discussed in a prior thread, the Feds can simply make accepting Medicare mandatory as part of your DEA licensing process, essentially making us into indentured servants of Washington.
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If that happens, couldn't docs legally unionize???
 
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Raryn said:
I love how Pelosi is saying that the House won't pass it until the senate gets their stuff together on the rest of the jobs bill...

They're playing chicken with medicare in the middle!
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Nancy Pelosi is one of the worst human beings on earth.
 
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GeneralVeers said:
Cassandra was a figure in Greek mythology. She was a Trojan priestess who was granted by Apollo the gift of prophecy and could predict the future. In typical Greek irony she was also cursed in that no one would ever believe her claims.
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Ah, thanks for the education. Until now, Cassandra was just that girl from high-school who wasn't that bright, but had a set of major-league yabbos. In typical high-school fashion, her life is a goddamned mess now. Two or three kids out of wedlock, still stuck in smalltown USA... you know the story.
 
RustedFox said:
Ah, thanks for the education. Until now, Cassandra was just that girl from high-school who wasn't that bright, but had a set of major-league yabbos. In typical high-school fashion, her life is a goddamned mess now. Two or three kids out of wedlock, still stuck in smalltown USA... you know the story.
Click to expand...

Just a smalltown girl ...
 
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