He had just about every nasty symptom imaginable, from constant vomiting to dizziness to ultra-high fever, but the doctors couldn’t figure out why.
Fortunately his condition improved enough that he was released from the hospital, and now he’s on the mend.
Now, my step-dad is a Medicare patient. But he just found out that he’s been unceremoniously dropped by his Primary Care doctor.
Apparently his physician dropped all of her Medicare patients in one giant culling.
It turns out that physicians across the country have been firing Medicare patients; and according to a late 2015 study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 21% of physicians are not taking new Medicare patients.
Much of this trend is based on stiff penalties and financial disincentives from the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and 2015’s Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization (MACRA) Act.
MACRA in particular is completely mystifying.
The law created a whopping 2,400 pages of regulations that Medicare physicians are expected to know and follow.
Many of the rules are debilitating.
For instance, MACRA changed how physicians can be reimbursed for their Medicare patients by establishing a bizarre set of standards to determine if a physician is providing “value”.
As an example, if a patient ends up in the emergency room, his or her physician can incur a steep penalty.
This explains why my step-dad was dropped by his doctor.
The healthcare system has been broken to the point that physicians now have a greater incentive to fire their Medicare patients than to treat them.
One Florida-based physician summed up the situation like this:
Medicare is not the ONLY institution imposing penalties. Insurance companies are also reimbursing/penalizing physicians if their patients are utilizing their insurance more than the insurance companies think they should. Ever since the advent of Medicare in the late 60's, insurance companies have tried to emulate their reimbursement schedules based on Medicare reimbursement rates.
ReplyDeleteAnd, ever since then, health care providers have tried to squeeze as much out of Medicare and insurance companies as they can. It's a f'd up game they play. The patient is never in the drivers seat and that's why health care costs keep going up. Until patients can shop medical care (completely open market) costs will keep going up.
Imagine if your lender told you that you can only go to a Ford dealer and buy a Fiesta with manual 5 speed, no air, etc. It would be nuts. But, that's exactly what we do with health care.
Hopefully, the decimation of the Un-affordable Care Act will get things moving in the right direction. We FINALLY have a POTUS with business experience, instead of a layer or community organizer.
I really do not give a poo, because due to the unaffordable care act I lost my insurance as of Jan 1st.
ReplyDeleteSo if something happens, you all can pay for it, since I can't.
I mean that is how welfare works right? I can't get welfare and I can't afford 12K a year so we will roll the dice and claim bankruptcy on the bill.
What choice do I have?
Triple the pay amount to receipients .....Way overdue for
ReplyDeletea Big Raise....we All need it by the time we get SS Benefits
Hell, the Govt Waist far more and gives it away, even to
Enemies all the time ....look at China getting Billions
per day on that friggin debt......while our Seniors live
in Poverty !!!!!!!!!!
America should be MAD as Hell
ReplyDeleteSocial Security a JOKE !!!
All the Damn Govt does is try to keep it from you > FACT
They hope you are Dead and get none of it (Happens Many Times) They keep raising age to qualify for full amount!!
Should Not matter how much $$ you make (to cut benefits)
Should Get full amount at age 60 with no income limits !!
The Damn Govt has Plenti of money , all they do is LIE !!
It is YOUR money ,not the Govt's and you should control it.....Not them ...and what you paid in Should STAY in
your family after you are gone....Not go to Strangers !!!
The mess with Social Security began when Congress started pilfering from the program, putting IOU's in the pot and never paying the program back.
ReplyDeleteEvery Congress person that ever allowed monies to be taken from the Social Security program should be paying that money back, out of their own pockets, or estates. That will never happen, but in the real world, if it did, you can bet your bottom dollar no other Congress person would ever consider touching that pot of money!
Fact { Your Money} Not the Government's or anyone elses !!
ReplyDeleteSo , WHY does the Government tell you , how it will be
handled ??? I worked since I was 10 years old !!!
We who have people in our Family who died before Ever
getting their first check ....that money should be passed
down to the family......Nobody else has Any rights to it!!
Stealing is what takes place....Govt Steals YOUR $$$$