Posted by Tina
There is no way Dr. Joseph Shanahan could bring himself to stop seeing Medicare patients. “My mother would kill me,” he said. But the Raleigh rheumatologist, who is also board certified in internal medicine, takes a huge financial hit by participating in the federal insurance program for older people. The program’s fees to doctors are already low, and a looming 21 percent cut would make a difficult situation worse. “Medicare cut scares doctors, patients,” by Sarah Avery – NewsObserver.com
Remember when Democrats said Republicans were going to take Medicare away from senior citizens to scare them into voting Democrat? Well the day that Medicare will be taken from seniors has arrived…it was delivered exclusively by Democrats. It will be a slow, agonizing death “by a thousand cuts”. Cuts in funding, cuts in timely services being rendered, cuts in percentages paid to doctors, cuts in available treatments and services, cuts in doctors, cuts…cuts…cuts!
There was, and is, a better way; it requires backing government out of the system gradually. It requires allowing doctors, instead of government, to make sound decisions for their patients, and it requires government making policies that encourge greater competition among insurers (instead of having polices that interfere in the free market and that protect insurance companies).