More docs refusing new Medicare patients
By Mike Miller · Jun 25, 2010
From USA Today:
WASHINGTON — The number of doctors refusing new Medicare patients because of low government payment rates is setting a new high, just six months before millions of Baby Boomers begin enrolling in the government health care program.
Recent surveys by national and state medical societies have found more doctors limiting Medicare patients, partly because Congress has failed to stop an automatic 21% cut in payments that doctors already regard as too low. The cut went into effect Friday, even as the Senate approved a six-month reprieve. The House has approved a different bill.
This was already a trend, only exacerbated by the health care bill. The solution is not to increase government spending, but to make charity-based care for the elderly more workable.