No yachts for docs

[thundley4]

sabra   (1000+ posts)             Mon Mar-01-10 12:47 PM
Original message
Medicare will delay paying claims for two weeks   
   
Source: theheart.org

Washington, DC - Now that Congress has failed to avert the 21.2% Medicare pay cut scheduled to take effect today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will try to ease the fiscal pain of physicians by not processing March claims for the first 10 business days of that month, according to a CMS spokesperson.

This move essentially buys time for Congress to postpone the effective date of the massive pay cut. The House passed a 30-day extension Thursday, but Sen Jim Bunning (R-KY) blocked a similar bill in the Senate because the action regarding Medicare reimbursement and other federal programs would have amounted to deficit spending. However, Senate Democrats plan to introduce another bill next week that would delay the effective date for more than 30 days, said a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). A previous Senate bill allowed for the possibility of a seven-month delay.

Insiders say whatever solution emerges would be retroactive to March 1. That way, CMS carriers would pay March claims that were put on hold at the current rate, although physicians would receive their money later than usual. The alternative—the CMS paying March claims at the slashed rate and then reprocessing them for the full amount after Congress postpones the reimbursement reduction—is more cumbersome.

"We're trying to do everything in our authority to minimize payment disruption to providers and avoid access problems for patients," CMS spokesperson Ellen Griffith said. Organized medicine has warned that if the 21.2% pay cut takes effect, many physicians will stop seeing new and even existing Medicare patients because they won't be able to cover their overhead.

Read more: http://www.theheart.org/article/1051241.do

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4288225

WriteDown (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 12:51 PM
Response to Original message
2. This should be a wake up to all those who claimed that Medicare wasn't being cut. nt

No Elephants   (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 01:20 PM
Response to Reply #2
12. Cutting payments to doctors is not the same as cutting coverage.
   
My insurer negotiations with health care providers all the time for rates lower than I would be charged if I walked in without insurance. My deductible is not affected by that, though.

Those rates would be lower if the government was paying "prevailing wages" to doctors.  Instead , Barry Soetero wants to cut their pay even more.

WriteDown (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 01:22 PM
Response to Reply #12
13. Very true, but it will have a similar effect...
   
Doctors refuse to see Medicare patients even now. So one can only imagine what the further cut in payments is going to do.

Can you say government caused health care rationing?

WriteDown (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 01:56 PM
Response to Reply #28
29. That it's a problem and proving that for a lot of doctors, it's all about the money
   
http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/27/news/economy/healthcare...

Well, Duh!  Why doesn't anyone work at a job?  Money, DUmbass.

AngryAmish   (1000+ posts)             Mon Mar-01-10 03:45 PM
Response to Reply #13
37. poor, widdle doctors won't be able to buy a 40 meter yacht this year
   
This year's yacht will only be 38 meters. The humiliation!

Mojorabbit   (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #37
40. My husband is a family doc
   
and we are far from wealthy. He has his own practice, with office staff to pay and an office nurse to pay as well as an office mortgage etc. He sees many patients for free who have lost their jobs and we pay for several peoples diagnostic tests and meds our of our own pocket who cannot afford it but NEED it. Painting with a broad brush is always a folly. Yacht my ass.

newfie11 (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 12:53 PM
Response to Original message
3. Yep more folks without health insurance
   
Lot of good it does to have medicare when doctors refuse to take it.

WriteDown (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 12:53 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Bingo. nt

A few of these DUmmies almost see a glimmer of truth regarding the government takeover of healthcare, but their overriding desire for "free stuff" keeps the light bulb from turning on.
   

[GOBUCKS]

Mojorabbit   (1000+ posts)           Mon Mar-01-10 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #37
40. My husband is a family doc
   
and we are far from wealthy. He has his own practice, with office staff to pay and an office nurse to pay as well as an office mortgage etc. He sees many patients for free who have lost their jobs and we pay for several peoples diagnostic tests and meds our of our own pocket who cannot afford it but NEED it. Painting with a broad brush is always a folly. Yacht my ass.

I wonder if the doc knows his wife is a raving moonbat commie.

[BEG]

Screw off you loser DUmmies. My cousin is a pediatric oncologist. Put himself through college with no help from anyone.  He owns a Chris Craft that he bought new (it is huge) and he paid more than you will make in 10 years for it.   The information below is about my cousin. Until you can do or even understand what he does you have NO right to say anything about how much he makes OR spends. You are nothing but leeches and vultures.    

 
Changed my mind. I decided to delete the info on my cousin even though I Xed out his name and other info. These are DUers we are dealing with after all.   
 

[Tantal]

Typical DUmmie logic and support for slavery. They think that they "need" the services of physicians, so they should be FORCED to provide the services, whether they're adequately compensated on not. Didn't southern slave owners think the same of the slaves?

[The Village Idiot]

Steven Crowder and Canada Health

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw[/youtube]


Healthcare in the Real Cuba
http://www.therealcuba.com/Page10.htm


1200 needless deaths due to neglect in UK hospitals (apparently the boss wasn't even asked about it by authoritiees)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1253438/Mid-Staffordshire-NHS-hospital-routinely-neglected-patients.html

[DumbAss Tanker]

Typical DUmmie logic and support for slavery.

You ain't seen nothin' yet, if some of the tax ideas they are floating come to pass.

[JohnnyReb]

Lets see here....go to school for 24 years to make the same money as a high school dropout, burger flipping, DUmmie....sure seems reasonable to me

[USA4ME]

WriteDown

2. This should be a wake up to all those who claimed that Medicare wasn't being cut.

What idiots would ever claim that it wouldn't be cut?  Oh, it's Skin's island, the home of idiots.  Nevermind.

Of course Medicare is going to be cut.  The babyboom generation is entering the picture and there's no way on the planet the country can afford to pay for all of us.  That's why we as conservatives have known and said for years that we had better prepare to take care of ourselves as though Medicare and Social Security will not even be there for us, because in all likelihood and for all practical purposes, it won't be there in any significant way.

.

[jukin]

Imagine that suddenly the minimum wage was cut by 21%?

[The Village Idiot]

Imagine that suddenly the minimum wage was cut by 21%?

Less youth unemployment right off the bat.

[AllosaursRus]

Imagine that suddenly the minimum wage was cut by 21%?

EXCELLENT point!!!!!!1111111

How 'bout one of you lurking DUmbasses sign up and answer?