Medicare Cuts - Real
 

I visited the Cardiologist today and here is a letter all should read and be upset about: There are probably about 8-10 cardiologists in this practise so it is not a small problem to The Villages Community..!!
"The 2010 Medicare Fee Schedule mandates that on January 1, 2010 severe cuts in cardiology physician fees will begin. This cut is being phased in over four years because the government used flawed data to make their calculations. In addition, there are Congressionally mandated cuts of more than 20 percent in all Medicare physicians fees, regardless of specialty. The results of these combined government policies are that our practice is facing cuts ranging from 25 to almost 50 percent.
Such drastic reductions in fees are going to seriously hamper our ability to continue to see you, our patients as we do today. We feel the need to warn you that these reductions will translate into decreased services for patients, cuts in staff, probable transfer of care to the hospitals resulting in delay in needed care. Please understand the hospitals cannot handle the mass influx of patients who will be needing services thar they once received in our office. Making sure you have the best quality of care will always be our number one priority. Caring for people is why we all dedicated our lives to heart patients. In the very near future it is going to be a difficult climate
to operate in our current manner.
We have built our office facility and trained our staff to best take care of each patient. We believe that the care you receive is critical to your quality of life. With these cuts we may not be able to provide some of the services that patients have come to depend on and in the long run; if the current policies are not changed we may be forced to close our doors.
As a cardiovascular patient we urge you to contact our lawmakers about the impact of our changing practice on you. The law is clear-we face cuts unless Congress acts. In advance we thank you for understnding our changing environment."
There are other facts to follow..:boxing2:

The second shoe to fall
 

In addition to the previous post this should also be taken as the pill that Congress wants you to swollow:
"The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Serivces (CMS) has proposed drastic cuts in the reimbursement for out-patient imaging procedures including nuclear stress tests. CAT/MRI scans and cardiac catheterizations procedures. These cuts will financially paralyze the office of your cardiologists and many of them will be forced not only refuse Medicare patients, but also leave the state of Florida altogether.
Your access to healthcare, especially cardiovascular care will be severely limited and this rationing of health care forced upon you by the Medicare cuts will leave you with no other alterative but to go to the hospital for any and all of your health care. This will lead to:
-Increased out of pocket expense for you, since your co pay for procedures will be more than 5 times compared ot office procedures.
-Increased wait times for procedures to be scheduuled.
-Increased length of stay in the hospital which will again increase the hospital expenses and your co pay.
There are only about 850 cardiologists currently practicing full time in Florida. If Medicare cuts come into effect, many of these skilled and knowledgeable cardiologists will leave the state altogether and the access to specialists will be limited and the quality of your health care will be severely compromised.
These Medicare cuts are going to completely criple your cardivascular services as well as other specialties and severely affect your healthcare.
We need you to stand with us to prevent these dreatic measures...."
If not now...when? If not us...Who..? Contact your repreentative and stop this erosion of skilled medical treatments.
The consequences sound a lot like the UK..!!:a040:

And I took the time to read this bill from end to end. Now I know it has morphed some since then, but this is just the beginning. They are cutting the services to seniors to provide for those without insurance. 400 billion from Medicare,(eliminate the fraud and waste) to pay for illegals and other who can't afford insurance. But if there is 400 billion in fraud with this program, why wouldn't there be 800 billion with this new bill? They have admitted that government programs are a failure and yet want us to accept more. And we the sheep, accept it.

Just vote in an admendment making everyone in political office no exceptions having to use only medicare!

Medicare Cuts
 

There is nothing political about having your benefits halved. Some of you just do not understand, or cannot comprehend what is going to happen to us Senior Citizens under this proposed Health Care bill that Congress and Obama want passed so hurriedly, and I feel sorry for those of you who supported blindly these people into office. Canada, the U.K. and all other countries that use this social form of medicine have been crying for years. It's okay if you are young and not facing the health perils that we seniors face now. This is the result of a system gone wild, and we are the ones who are going to suffer dreadfully I fear.

Polite
 

Please look at the thread category of "Medical" where it was posted and where I believe it belongs. It is a subject that is critical to every Senior citizen regarding their medical protection and it should not be hidden by some discussion regarding the differences between democrats and republicans.
I am sorry some feel it necessary to pretend being "intellectual" as opposed to concentrating on serious matters. Unfortunately, at time these attempts
at being "cute" actually confuse what would otherwise be considered very serious impacts on the quality of life.

See, in short order, unfortunately this has turned personal AND political.

As Xavier initially indicated, this belongs in Political. It's much more than a Medical discussion.

I think it is a cross over post. Many members do not register for the political forum and would miss the cuts in Medicare that this post is talking about.

It only gets political when posters start slamming each other about the posts.

Medicare Cuts
 

Was this letter provided by your cardiologist? Can you tell us which office provided it?

Medicare
 

Unfortunately, there is NO cure for ignorance.

Why Trivialize
 

Hey, it was an attempt to make sure all are informed regarding medicare and risks associated with the program. . If anyone elects to opt out so be it. I just don't think it is "right" to trivialize what may be a serious impact on medical care for senior citizens. It was not and is not political. It only becomes political when someone makes an attempt to "politicalize" everything in order to be argumentative or for whatever other motivation they may have. When the process is attacked as opposed to the substance it is time to just walk away and let the facts speak for themselves. :read:

Just a thought
 

Well I am not in Florida yet, I am in Indiana ,and no one can quite figure out all of the ramifications of what will be. I am a Registered Nurse and work for a group of 20+ Cardiologists. This all feels like The Perfect Storm to me.

Medicare does not cover the costs that are accrued to a doctors office;so each office rely's on those patients not on Medicare and their insurance coverage to make up the difference. I wonder how Florida does that with such a large Medicare population. I also worked in an OB/GYN office for 10 years and understand this to be true across the board in doctor's practices.

I know many will think-now it will be easy to have the doctor cut his fees but he did go to school all of those years, give up his family life, work weekends and nights, pay for law suits and malpractice insurance and work holidays just to cut his fees...believe me it won't be the doctor that reduces his fee. I'm not sure it should be either. We want to continue to reward those with such devotion and sacrifice to their profession so they will want to continue to practice great medicine. However me and 25 other RN's have already been downsized from a large OB/GYN office. We were too expensive. They did away with my department in Test Results. It will be services and personnel that will be cut.

I'm not saying that we should have kept things the same or that we should have changed them I am just reporting what I know to be true so others can decide what they think.

In my case, I am going to expect the worse but hope for the best. We have been a very blessed people and this is a great nation.

IMHO

There seems to be a lot of knee-jerk reaction to this on both sides. Xavier, you are assuming that this is related to the health care bill before Congress now and hence claim the facts are not known and we should wait until they are. However, in this case the facts are known since these cuts are taking place right now and hence do not include any additional future cuts that the House and Senate may come up with:

Thanks for posting. This is fact and this is happening many places other than TV. Brother-in-law is Doctor and has stated the same as above, his concern also is losing the ability (finanically) being able to service seniors.

I agree belongs in POLITICAL FORUM!

The posters themselves turn it into a political post. Leave it in medical and if a peep posts something that is political in it, then remove that post. Many people (like ZCaveman stated) would not see this important piece of info if it were moved to political.

It's sad that a discussion of senior's medical benefits which they paid a premium for all their working lives now becomes a political argument. That's what we get when we allow the government to take over these important parts of our welfare.
Not only has reduced payments for physician's services already become law, but in June 2010 the insurance companies are, by law, required to increase the deductibles with supplemental medicare policies. You know, the ones where you choose plan A,B,C,etc.
This is the law now and not dependent on what happens with the bills before Congress today.
I do not know when these new regulations were passed or why we seniors were not better informed about them previously. I would have thought an advocacy group like the AARP would have notified its members that this was happening.

Political
 

Yes this thread belongs in the Political forum because that is all this medical reform bill is all about. It is all about Obama's political ideology.

Why???
 

My goodness. Doesn't anyone understand this is not apart of that bill. It is going to deprive medical help to those that most need it.
Let me state from the start that I am personally fully covered and would not be impacted by any of these changes but I do have sympathy and feelings for those that will be hurt.
Let's be logical. Fact: More members read Medical than Political. Fact: This is a medical issue and not a "political issue", Fact: Some therefore want the data to be less transparent to the members, Fact: The only way the discussion is diverted to Political is if(a) someone either wants less member to know of the potential problem (b) they are uneducated as to the what the status of the issue is or (c) just like to stir up trouble regardless if it hurts senior citizens. KNOWLEDGE IS WISDOM..
The terrible problem is that when people are succesful in making things less transparent they deprive the citizens of information and "bad things happen". WHY DO SOME FEAR THE SUNSHINE COMING IN??? WHAT MOTIVATES SOME TO RUN OR WORK TO HIDE POTENTIAL PROBLEMS? I WISH I KNEW WHY BUT I CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE WHAT DRIVES PEOPLE IN THIS DIRECTION.

Shouting like this is the "norm" in political!

I saw this question posted previously, and also wondered:

Was this letter provided by your cardiologist? If so, which office? If not, what is the source of the letter? Thanks much.

:agree:

Health Care
 

BARRY GOLDWATER, 1964


LET ME REMIND YOU THAT EXTREMISM
IN THE DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE.

LET ME REMIND YOU ALSO THAT
MODERATION IN THE PURSUIT OF
JUSTICE IS NO VIRTUE.

If you feel that just sitting around and waiting to be shown what is and what is not, I feel sorry for you. We are educated people, not sheep. Look at our founding fathers and ask yourselves what action they took in the midst of possible catastrophe, was it controversial, did they take a stand, or were they led to slaughter? If we do not stand up for ourselves then we are doomed. And you can put this in any of the forums for discussion.

OK so exactly what are we supposed to do...gn

Huh? :shrug:

I will not mention any party or any political statement, only the impact of this bill regardless of who votes for or against it. So this belongs in medical, not political.

gn asked, OK what should we do? I would suggest you start by reading the bill as it currently stands, and if you do not agree with it, e-mail or call your congressman and senator and let them know you will not support them if they support this bill. Read both house and senate versions as the final will be some compromise of both. Both bills have horrible consequences for seniors. They make the assumption that Medicare can be cut because of fraud and waste. It probably does have fraud and waste. But when has any government run program not been loaded with fraud and waste. Why should we believe they will fix that? They will make the cuts, not fix any of the problems and your benefits will decline. That will happen

Someone else suggested we wait until the bill is past as the current version will change. Yes it will change, but there is so much bad with it, that a lot will end up in the final version. It also will be way to late at that point. Do something now. Even if you support it, that is fine. Let your elected officials know how you feel about it.

Someone else said they are not impacted as they have great coverage now. They have not read these bills. You will be forced to buy certain coverage you may not have today. If you don't, you will be forced to pay anyway. You will be taxed more to pay for this. And at some point you will be forced to take the public option. Please read the current versions as you will be significantly impacted.

I have read it, I do not support it, and I e-mail my senators and congressman every day and tell them that.

Get involved, do something, or your part of the problem, not the solution. Regardless of party, they are our elected representatives and they deserve to know weather you support this or not.

Healtgh Care
 

Get involved. Email your Representatives and Senators with your feelings regarding them compromise bill that has to come before the President. If you feel the bill has no merit for us Seniors then voice that opinion. Get involved with local action groups working for 1. Replacement of current politicians whose only goal is to look for reelection. 2. Push as hard as you can for term limitations. Our only hope is to become involved with our government, inaction has caused just what we are experiencing now, and within not too long a period this country faces the global positioning of most third world nations. Remember this: until Borders, Language, and Culture issues are addressed our future looks quite dim.

I think I'll support Healthcare Reform for the millions that don't have coverage and so that my children and my grandchildren will have just a few of the advantages that we did. It is a much different world that they will face. I have and will continue to write, not only my representatives, but my old representatives as well and those who oppose Healthcare Reform. You have truly motivated me to get more involved. If I have to pay more then that's the least I can do. Thank you, thank you very much..:thumbup:

health reform
 

We all support health reform. Only a complete idiot would not.

The Obama care is not health reform. It takes away money and/or healthcare from one group and gives it to another. It is a Tax and control bill.

Reform would allow insurance companies to compete across State lines And provide tort reform. It would leave the kind of care given as a decision made by the patient and the Doctor.

Please see this bill for what it is. If you think it is not a tax bill how can you explain the enormous involvement of the IRS.

Thanks Xavier. And I encourage you to get involved. However please read the pending bills so you write with knowledge, not media hype from either side. I also support health care reform. Better coverage, low cost alternatives, insurance reform, more competition, tort reform, free clinics, and many other ways to bring better care to more people. The bill pending before our elected Representatives does none of the above.

Xavier , I support your view. Following breast cancer, we lost our insurance. That should not happen in this country. We are fine now thanks to Medicare. Bill may not be perfect, but it will be an improvement. I HAVE been in contact with those in the House and Senate.

Good Advice
 

12ridehd..I could not agree more with you. There are so many ways to bring better health care to the public but it takes being an informed and where appropriate becoming involved in the process. Unfortunately there are those who speak without knowledge or want to use it as a political issue rather than what it is..a medical concern regardless of political party or leaning.
I remember an old story that essentially said "let George do it" as everybody asserted they were too busy so the "factious George" could do it. Of course because so many acted this way "George was too busy" and it did not get done. Keep up the good:agree: advice..