Rationing Senior Care: It’s Already Started
Want an appointment with kidney specialist Adam Weinstein of Easton, Md.? If you’re a senior covered by Medicare, the wait is eight weeks.
How about a checkup from geriatric specialist Michael Trahos? Expect to see him every six months: The Alexandria-based doctor has been limiting most of his Medicare patients to twice yearly rather than the quarterly checkups he considers ideal for the elderly. Still, at least he’ll see you.
Top-ranked primary care doctor Linda Yau is one of three physicians with the [Washington, DC] District’s Foxhall Internists group who recently announced they will no longer be accepting Medicare patients.
Full article on Medicare cuts for seniors.
I’ve heard from my older family members that it’s getting more difficult to find a doc that accepts Medicaid here in Dallas.
Medicare. I meant Medicare.
What is needed is rigorous measurement of this phenomenon – like the Canadian Fraser Institute’s measurement of waiting times for specialist and hospital care under the government monopoly up there. Obviously, the U.S. government would never fund such research.
It is becoming increasingly clear to laymen that Medicare beneficiaries do not have the same access to care as the privately insured (or those in Medicare Advantage plans: http://tinyurl.com/23lmoqr). The political challenge is obvious: It’s not possible that America’s seniors will tolerate politicians who allow this to happen.
So, the political class has two choices. First, it could voucherize Medicare and allow seniors to choose any health plan they prefer. Second, it could equalize the environment by imposing more restrictions on both the demand and supply sides of private care. For example, it could force health insurers to match the Medicare payment schedule. (Unless Obamacare is repealed, health insurers might actually lobby for this, because it will facilitate the collusion and cartelization necessary for them to survive under Obamacare.) And/or, it could make Medicare participation necessary as a condition of licensure. (Given the volume of health dollars flowing through the federal government, I have little doubt that states could be induced to legislate this.) Physicians would have to report how many Medicare beneficiaries they had seen, as a proportion of total patients.
Given the ambitions of the political class, I would not bet on its increasing choice, rather than imposing more restrictions.
Working closely with a dear friend struggling through cancer, it’s clear that one need not ration medicine, they just need to slow down the treatment process sufficiently and pathology handles the rest.
Without tort reform, among other issues, the risk of bringing on an additional Medicare patient along with its inherent legal exposure, doesn’t make financial sense.
Watch what will come next, if physicians received any government funds during training, they will be forced to have a minimum number of Medicare patients, like the draft but in reverse.
John Graham makes a good point. Without measurement, the Obama Administration is just going to deny this is happening.
“So, the political class has two choices. First, it could voucherize Medicare and allow seniors to choose any health plan they prefer.”
Do you mean voucherizing it like Ryan would with decreasing reimbursements? That gets you to the same place. Decreased reimbursements and less access.
Steve
Care has been rationed in America for decades, but the ranking of 49th in the World for longevity is basically a result of less than adequate care for seniors, which ObamaCare cut by $50 billion a year as Medicare adds 2 and a half million this year and rising!
Seeing a GP is mainly a waste of time for seniors since if there is something wrong they have to refer you to a specialist in whatever filed is needed, and if it seems serious seniors know the best place to go is to the emergency room.
One of the best things about becoming a senior is that every one of them knows what diseases are common in their families; and knowing this, if they have any sense they will seek out as their “primary care physicians” one who specializes in the field that knows the conditions well and specializes in that field. Normally this follows the leading causes of death [Heart disease, Cancer, Stroke, Chronic lower respiratory diseases, Accidents, Alzheimer’s disease and Diabetes] most of which are now highly treatable with encouraging new treatments that GP’s won’t know of for years.
But as the last election showed, seniors are well aware of the changes contimplated by politicians to reduce the Medicare entitlement while increasing the Medicaid entitlment thereby favoring the poor over the old. Will seniors who paid into Medicare for decadees be willing to allow it to be deluted for a long time, or will they react by political actions to restore the program. With waste, fraud and abuse being over $800 billion every year, I think they just might take this opportunity to aim the government to where the problems really are! If we don’t we must take care of our own health better which I suggest selecting specialists will do best. This won’t stop deaths by accident but probably will make accidents less likely to occur.