Welcome To The Future: No Doctor For You, Medicare Patient!

by John Hawkins | May 18, 2010 10:37 am

Want to see what America’s future looks like if they : keep pursuing big government, high taxes, and reckless spending? Just look to Greece. Want to see what the future of America’s medical care will look like if Obamacare isn’t repealed? Look to Texas[1]:

Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare at alarming rates, frustrated by reimbursement cuts they say make participation in government-funded care of seniors unaffordable.

Two years after a survey found nearly half of Texas doctors weren’t taking some new Medicare patients, new data shows 100 to 200 a year are now ending all involvement with the program. Before 2007, the number of doctors opting out averaged less than a handful a year.

“This new data shows the Medicare system is beginning to implode,” said Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the Texas Medical Association. “If Congress doesn’t fix Medicare soon, there’ll be more and more doctors dropping out and Congress’ promise to provide medical care to seniors will be broken.

….“You do Medicare for God and country because you lose money on it,” said Culpepper, a graduate of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. “The only way to provide cost-effective care is outside the Medicare system, a system without constant paperwork and headaches and inadequate reimbursement.”

…In 2008, 42 percent of Texas doctors participating in the survey said they were no longer accepting all new Medicare patients. Among primary-care doctors, the percentage was 62 percent.

But, but, but…this isn’t supposed to be happening! I thought it was the insurance companies, not the government, that was so tough to work with! That’s what the Obama:  Administration kept saying when they were demonizing them non-stop and telling everyone how pixies were going to cure everyone with hope and moonbeams once Obamacare was passed.

So, what happens when your doctor decides he isn’t doing his job for “God and country” anymore and he wants it to actually be worth his time?: :  He:  stops : treating you. Wait times go up. The quality of care drops and it becomes harder to find a doctor. Eventually, because there simply isn’t enough manpower to go around, rationing occurs. That will be your future if Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi get their way. And when it finally gets here? Saying, “I told you so,” isn’t going to be a comfort when you can’t find a doctor to treat you or some government snafu is tying up a life saving treatment.