News, Doctors say Medicare cuts will hurt patients. (Congress, drug, health care)

[JD59]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Medicare patients will likely have a harder time seeing a doctor if proposed cuts to the program are implemented, according to a survey of doctors released by the American Medical Association on Monday.

Congress is expected to cut Medicare, the state-federal health insurance plan for the elderly, by 10 percent in 2008.

The AMA has launched a campaign to lobby U.S. lawmakers to block it and instead provide a 1.7 percent increase to help cover rising costs doctors are facing.

"This cut will severely impact physicians' ability to care for Medicare patients," Cecil Wilson, a Florida physician and chairman of the AMA's board, told reporters, calling the situation a "looming crisis."

Some 14 percent of the nearly 9,000 doctors surveyed said they would stop providing care to Medicare patients, 60 percent would limit the number of new patients they would accept and 40 percent would shift services to hospitals.

Doctors say Medicare cuts will hurt patients - Yahoo! News (broken link)

[burdell]

I wonder what that 10% cut amounts to in $$$$$$ ?, the article doesn't say.

[muuseec]

I can´t believe that Americans in "The Free World" have to pay for medichal care!!!
Medichal care should be a right, not a right just guaranteed for the rich or the financially secure. No money. Just basic security.
Free universal healthcare. Like the rest of the enlightened world.
Until then, I am sorry to say, USA will be considered a country that doesn´t care about their citizens.

[HappyTexan]

But the drug companies won't make as much money that way.

[arod0331]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

But the drug companies won't make as much money that way.

Doesn't matter, you'd be amazed at how many drug seekers there are out there who fake symptoms just to get their fix.

[gbone]

Originally Posted by muuseec

I can´t believe that Americans in "The Free World" have to pay for medichal care!!!
Medichal care should be a right, not a right just guaranteed for the rich or the financially secure. No money. Just basic security.
Free universal healthcare. Like the rest of the enlightened world.
Until then, I am sorry to say, USA will be considered a country that doesn´t care about their citizens.

And where does "the rest of the enlightened world" get their money to pay for the "free universal healthcare" that they provide?

[katzenfreund]

Originally Posted by gbone

And where does "the rest of the enlightened world" get their money to pay for the "free universal healthcare" that they provide?

Not sure which country he was talking about...
But, the US is the only industrialized country that has so many uninsured and underinsured people.

The money to pay for healthcare is financed through taxes of course. However - they spend a much smaller percentage of their budget on military/defense. And their priorities are the citizens of the country, not making sure the corporations literally make a killing. The US is number one in that.

Again, corporate bail outs and welfare seem to be ok here, but making sure people have access to health care is not. Sad.

Here is a link on where your tax $ go. Just the INTEREST on defense spending is higher than the spending on health. Let alone all the new spending. How much waste is hiding in those numbers? How much are Halliburton et al benefiting from all this? Yet there is no money for healthcare for the elderly. Guess they should go out and get a job?! Tell that to a 75 year old with health problems.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.p...xt=va&aid=5307

[Refugee56]

When the government takes over Health Care be prepared to wait up to three years for basic medical tests and then get your Colonsocopy without an pain medicine like they do in England.

We have to cut Medicare so we can pay off all the bad debt from Fannie May and Freddie Mac.