ok, the JMayer post prompted me to email our Senator and house rep today. Here is what I wrote (with some excerpts directly from jmayer - thanks)
sent to Senator Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow and House Rep Pete Hoekstra:
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Please focus on fixing the medicare payment system. The recent legislative fix to prevent the 10.6% cut does not address the root of the problem. Physicians need the ability to balance bill their medicare patients to make up for the inability for government to appropriately compensate physicians. The artificially low price controls now put on physicians under Medicare are driving doctors out of medicare. We are considering dropping Medicare and other third party payors ourselves. The low reimbursements from the govt controlled pricing under Medicare are pushing us in this direction.
A level 3 Medicare visit pays approx. $59; a level 4 visit pays $88. Plumbers, lawyers and accountants make more than a physician does for each visit and they don't have to spend 12 years in post graduate training, address multiple chronic medical conditions, or get prior authorizations from insurance companies. Those professionals also don’t have to wait the 30-60 days to get paid from Medicare and other insurance companies or be forced to pay use electronic prescribing or electronic health records. What is wrong with this picture? Hopefully, it is quite apparent.
I'm pessimistic reimbursement improvements directed at primary care physicians will occur until a great number of internists and family practice doctors have left office practice. Already, medical students shun primary care due to the low pay. The government will have no choice but increase pay or allow balance billing once primary care physician shortages occur on a wide scale basis. Hopefully those of us primary care doctors can survive and stay in practice until then.
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