Utah Doctors Cry Foul at Proposed Medicare Cuts

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(KCPW News) Utah doctors say Congress is unfairly targeting their livelihood with plans to cut the amount of money they are reimbursed for treating Medicare patients. But they say the real victims will be the elderly, disabled and veterans who will be refused treatment by doctors can't afford to see Medicare patients anymore:

"It becomes a difficult decision every year as you look at your reimbursements and your expenses," says Catherine Wheeler, a Salt Lake City gynecologist and former President of the Utah Medical Association. "There comes a point where you have to drop the people who don't at least meet your expenses. And our group came to that point with Medicare about five years ago."

Congress is proposing to trim Medicare reimbursements for physicians by 10-percent next year as a means of controlling costs. Sixty-percent of physicians surveyed by the American Medical Association say they will limit new Medicare patients if Congress makes the cut. Payson E-R doctor Mark Bair says seniors living in rural areas with fewer doctors may suffer the most if Congress makes the cut:

"We are already having patients walk into the emergency room with letters from their doctor that say they are discharged because they're a Medicare patient or that they cannot accept them as a Medicare patient," says Bair. "And that's going to get worse next year as we start having these cuts."

According to the Utah Medical Association, doctors seeing Medicare patients are reimbursed for about 60-percent of what they would make treating non-Medicare patients. At the same time, they say the cost of running a medical practice has increased 20-percent. Rather than cutting physician reimbursements, the American Medical Association says Congress should limit the treatment it covers for Medicare patients.

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