Hospitals / Doctors now refusing to take Medicare

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Anthony,

That was a good post and very enlightening. I hope that your brother does well.

Thank you. He's doing fine, but feeling very tired now, maybe from quitting smoking or the Beta-Blocker medication, nicotine withdrawls, I don't know, but I think he is going to be fine, just need some fine tuning.

Originally Posted by Excaliber

I keep waiting for someone to mention there is no Government run health plan being discussed in the current health bill. Which may or may not even pass.

OK, with the out of the way, proceed with our regular program, Government health plan bashing.

In some extent, all of the current private healthcare plans are already government controlled. Basically, most, if not all, insurance carriers base their reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals from the Medicare mandated reimbursement rates. Medicare has a "formula" to determine what each medical service is "worth" , to cover expenses and provide a "reasonable" profit, as determined by them, and all the insurance carriers are quick to jump on it, as they use this information as "ammunition" to justify their reimbursement rates. Medicare also determines which procedures are medically reasonable and necessary, again setting the standard for private insurance carriers to base their plans from. So, you see, the government for the most part sets the playing field already for everybody, insurance companies, doctors and hospitals. There however are some differences between insurance plans such as deductables, co-pays, some covered services, etc, but again, most of the plan is based off of Medicare standards.

Originally Posted by Excaliber

Blah, blah , blah, like I said, back to Government bashing, it's what we do best.

Wages are down and REMAIN down for the bulk of the country. Business' are tightening their belts, sharpening their pencils, cutting costs. Health care facilities, doctors, hospital's are not immune to this trend. Figure out how to do it or like any business, face the inevitable consequences.

Eventually services and procedures will have to be cut. Waiting times will increase, it WILL happen, it's reality. It's the ONLY way to cut the ever rising costs. What part of that do you not understand or comprehend?

The main difference between the business of healthcare and the rest of the economy is that reimbursement rates (charges) are determined by the government, and not from supply and demand. As utility costs, rental costs, supply costs go up, medical providers cannot increase their reimbursements at all, as again, its government controlled. Unlike the dentist or veterinarian who can set their own charges, based on supply and demand, Hospitals and Doctors ( except plastic surgeons and opthmologists performing radial keratotomies,etc who can set their own charges) have to agree to accept whatever Medicare deems to be reasonable. The congress cuts pay to medical providers yet they give themselves raises. I believe that's why the Mayo clinic has decided to stop accepting medicare patients in Az, because of reduced reimbursements. I believe they are "testing the waters" to see how much this move will affect their business, bottom line, because medicare care is really a business afterall. If this test proves not to hurt the bottom line, then they may do the same at other clinics. It's all about money, like you said in the last paragraph. If the government cuts the money, there will be less sevices.