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Monday, November 29, 2010

Screwed Again

When leaving physical therapy today there were a stack of papers on the desk for any who wanted one. The sheet of paper states that physician pay for Medicare and Tricare (military) will be cut 23% Dec. 1st, and that another cut comes Jan. 1, 2011. I knew a cut was coming, but I didn't know it was that much.

Several doctors in my area have made it public that they will not accept any new Medicare patients due to the cut in payments. I'm sure others will raise their fees for non-medicare patients to help make the difference.

In the past I've stated that I can't see a way to reduce the cost of health care due to the increasing demand of an aging society. I've seen the lite. Now I understand. The demand is reduced by eliminating the supply. If doctors won't accept Medicare payments, then a large portion of the aging will be forced into not getting any health care.

Once again the Dems, helpers of the poor, are in fact putting the screws to the poor.

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For the past 6 months I've been paying $400/month out of pocket to continue medical coverage. We were just informed that will increase to $468/month this month, and then to $1500/month in May. So when June rolls around we will be without any medical coverage unless I happen to land a direct hire position. The present Federal policies are making that less and less likely.

1 comment:

Ruth said...

and people wonder why I was so less than thrilled with the Healthcare laws.....

One of the changes that goes into effect Jan 1 2011, if you use a Flexible Spending Account to pay for your prescriptions, OTC meds, co-pays, etc, they will NO LONGER let you use it to pay for any OTC medication unless its prescribed by a doctor.

And effective in 2013 there will be a cap of $2500 in place, so if you know someone who's expecting having to pay for braces or the like after that year, tell them to start setting aside their after tax pay after all!