AARP 'Troubled' By Senate's Vote To Block Medicare Improvements - Baucus Bill Would Have Protected Premiums, Boosted Benefits

As posted yesterday the Baucus bill died in the Senate and AARP is not happy with the results as well. Where will Congress find the funds this time is the question that remains to be seen, the the meantime, patients and physicians are put at odds, patients needing doctors and physicians needing compensation. This is forcing many physicians who have had their own private practice to close and go to work for one of the big practices or hospitals. The private practice physicians as we have known for many years is indeed an endangered species, sad to to say. I guess perhaps we’ll have the old time reruns of Marcus Welby to remind us of better times. BD

AARP issued a statement in response to today's vote to block necessary Medicare legislation in the U.S. Senate. The statement, from AARP CEO Bill Novelli, follows: "Partisanship and inaction continued to grip the Senate today, derailing a bipartisan bill to improve Medicare for millions of older Americans. While we thank those Senators from both sides of the aisle who supported this critical bill, we are troubled that people in Medicare will once again see negative consequences because of partisan gridlock.

"If there was a 10-percent Medicare cut, you can't imagine the [physician] exodus from Medicare that would happen,'" says Lisa Ehrlich, MD, a TMA physician leader practicing internal medicine in Houston.For every Medicare patient Dr. Ehrlich treats, she already loses money, so she has to be selective. She cannot afford to accept new Medicare patients with whom she has no established patient-physician relationship. Medicare insures 15 to 18 percent of her patients. She created the delicate balance to care for as many Medicare patients as possible yet still survive as a physician. Though difficult, she says she her only choice is to limit the number of Medicare patients she treats.”
"Congress has faced repeated annual deadlines to address physicians' payments from Medicare. However, each year for the past five years, Congress has found ways to avoid fixing the crux of the problem - the flawed payment formula used to calculate their payments.

AARP 'Troubled' By Senate's Vote To Block Medicare Improvements - Baucus-Snowe Bill Would Have Protected Premiums, Boosted Benefits