Hi Billy, On Mar 26, 2012, at 2:37 PM, [email protected] wrote: >> Finally, the CPC budget would prevent the 27-percent cut to physicians’ >> payments under Medicare that is scheduled to be imposed in calendar year >> 2013. This automatic cut resulting from the sustainable growth rate (SGR) >> mechanism installed in the 1990s has been avoided in recent years by >> providing offsetting deficit reduction – referred to as the “doc fix.” CPC >> includes and fully pays for this “doc fix” over 10 years, preventing the >> physician payment cut. > > This is nonsense, all doctors should be required, as part of their licensing, > to provide medical services to X number of patients under Medicare. This > would be a "sacrifice"? Like hell. I simply cannot feel pain for people > earning $ 150,000 or $ 250,000 when they are asked to chip in for the > national good and the well being of people who live at the poverty level.
Fine, but for what level of "X"? 10%? 50%? 90%? The problem is that Medicare patients are not evenly distributed geographically. Do we bus patients around to de-segregate them? I agree, our current pseudo-market system of health care is a general disaster all the way around. But underpriced Medicare patients don't just cost doctors, they also cost nurses, clinics, non-profits, etc. Who pays them? If you wanted to just propose a, say, 10% surtax on medical professionals making more than $150,000 and use that to fund Medicare coverage, that would probably be more equitable. Otherwise, the decline in payments is an effective tax on those doctors who *are* willing to take Medicare, and enforcing quotas is a bitch. E -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
