The President’s Weekly Address 0
Excerpt:
Since 2003, Congress has acted to prevent these pay cuts from going into effect. These votes were largely bipartisan, and they succeeded when Democrats ran Congress and when Republicans ran Congress – which was most of the time.
Continually cutting doctors’ reimbursements to the point that doctors cannot afford to take Medicare and Medicaid patients is indeed wrongheaded. Doctors’ take home pay is not driving the cost increases for health care.
Uwe Reinhardt, from the New York Times:
I have been looking for a new doctor because of my move. The (lousy overpriced private) insurance I have is from a carrier which often provides Medicare supplemental insurance. I had difficulty getting an appointment because the office staff thought I was on Medicare (I’m hoping to live long enough to qualify) and their “quota” of Medicare patients was full. I had to get my phone call bucked up to a supervisor who was experienced enough to realize that my policy was primary, not secondary insurance, so as to get an appoint.
There’s something truly wrong about a cost-containment strategy that ultimately results in denying health care to persons who need it.
I think it’s a Republican thing. The odds are that the persons this policy ultimately penalizes–old folks like me–don’t get corporate country club memberships or have corporate jets (and, if they did, they wouldn’t be worrying about Medicare).
Republicans are all about the corporate country club membership constituency. All the rest is window dressing.