Congress made a solemn promise to America's seniors to supply more affordable medical care, but now they're limiting seniors' access to doctors, making it harder for them to get the care they need. Tell Congress to protect seniors' access to doctors.
With over 3.2 million baby boomer's becoming eligible for Medicare in three short years, and a government-predicted shortage of 85,000 doctors by 2020, doctor payment cuts will create an access-to-care crisis for America's seniors.
If Congress doesn't act soon, Medicare doctor payment cuts will hurt America's patients. Doctors will be forced to defer the purchase of new medical equipment and information technology; seniors will have a harder time finding medical and surgical specialists and will have to travel greater distances to see a doctor; and more Medicare patients will be forced to go to expensive emergency rooms for routine care that could have been treated in a doctor's office.
S. 2785, The Save Medicare Act of 2008, has been introduced in the Senate. This bill would stop the Medicare physician payment cuts for 18 months, long enough to begin working on a long-term solution to the broken payment system. In addition, the bill will not increase the cost of permanently fixing the fatally flawed Medicare physician payment system. Urge your U.S. senators to co-sponsor this legislation and tell all your representatives in Congress to stop doctor payment cuts.
You can sign up at this site listed below to make you voice heard to stop this.
http://amaactions.org/action171_pd.php
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Thanks for the info. Looks like doctors may feel the impact as well. Here's the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's take on it.
"The legislation would replace proposed Medicare cuts, which total more than 15 percent, with positive updates to physician payments from July 1, 2008, though December 31, 2009. Specifically, S.2785 would extend the current, temporary 0.5 percent update through December 31, 2008, which would avert the 10.6 percent cut to payments that is scheduled to take effect July 1, 2008. The legislation also provides a 1.8 percent update for 2009 and extends provision benefiting rural payment levels. Further, S.2785 would allow funding for the Medicare Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) through 2010; this program provides physicians with an additional 1.5 percent payment bonus if criteria are met."
http://www.aasmnet.org/Articles.aspx?id=790
The American Academy of Family Physicians offers this info ...
"Never have the stakes been higher. Unless Congress acts to stop the Medicare payment cut scheduled to take place in July, family physicians will be hit with a decrease of more than 10 percent in Medicare payments.
A decrease of this magnitude will make it more and more difficult for family physicians to keep their doors open to Medicare patients."
http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/policy/federal/medicarecut.html
Can anyone else share more info about this bill? Does anyone know who else may benefit or who may loose with the passage of this legislation?
May 10, 2008 - 3:04pmThis Comment