Cox News Service
WASHINGTON -- Unless Congress averts a scheduled 10 percent cut
to Medicare physician reimbursements, seniors will find it harder
to get proper health care, doctors said at a rally Wednesday.
About 100 physicians and their supporters made a "house call"
to the Capitol in support of a bill by Sen. Debbie Stabenow,
D-Mich., that would increase doctors' pay for 18 months rather than
cut it.
The cuts are scheduled to take effect July 1 unless Congress
acts.
"We care, be fair," the white lab coat-clad group of
protesters chanted.
"We are asking Congress to support the Stabenow bill that would
delay the 10 percent cut by 18 months and hopefully by then we will
have a new administration with different priorities and there will
be a will to fix this problem," said Dr. Steven West of Fort
Myers, Fla.
Brenda Craine, director of media relations for the American
Medical Association, said Stabenow's bill would also provide a
bonus for areas with a shortage of physicians and allow different
billing arrangements for doctors on active duty in the armed
services.
According to an AMA poll, 60 percent of physicians say the
scheduled cuts would force them to limit the number of Medicare
patients they treat. The same poll found that eight out of 10
Americans are concerned about access to care for seniors and baby
boomers because of government funding cuts.
"The reimbursements are so low that some doctors have stopped
practicing. Doctors are unable to care for their elderly
patients," said Dolores Dobbie of the Michigan State Medical
Society Alliance.
West said the age of practicing physicians is also a problem.
"We face the problem of not only an elderly population, but
elderly physicians. Our average physician's age is 51 years old. We
are having a hard time trying to recruit and retain young
physicians because of the preponderance of the Medicare system,"
he said.
Sarah Krouse's e-mail address is skrousecoxnews.com