Early this year our democratically controlled Congress voted for a new healthcare plan aimed at providing better care for all Americans even though it cost $1 trillion (that is with a “t”). To offset the tremendous cost, the program had projected savings. More generic drugs would get used. Corruption would get squeezed out of the system. Better pricing for medical services would be implemented. You get the idea! Yada, yada, yada.
The AARP (American Association of Retired People) pushed the new healthplan because they are a democractic lobby group. “Old” people were led to believe that the plan was a good thing.
This month (June, 2010), Medicare has implement a 21% across the board reduction in payments to doctors and medical specialists. Most doctors already hate Medicare because the reimbursements are low and the paperwork is unbelievable. Ask Grasshopper No.1 sometime about Medicare reimbursements. Her eyecare company won’t accept Medicare.
With the new 21% reduction in Medicare services, more doctors are already threatening to drop patients.
Guess what? Tomorrow I have one of my routine doctor visits and I get to present my Medicare coverage card. The first hurdle is “will he accept my insurance”? If my doctor continues to treat me, “what kind of care will I get”? What happens to my Medicare Supplement Insurance that I carry in addition to Medicare? So tomorrow a routine doctor visit turns in to a financial “crap shoot”. Talk about anxiety. My blood pressure will be sky high.
That is not the end of this medical odyssey. The U.S.Senate has passed an emergency bill delaying the implementation of the 21% Medicare discount. Whoa. There go some of the savings of the original bill. But wait, the House of Representatives has to pass it’s version of delaying the 21% discount. Then Obama who promised big savings with a new healthcare plan has to reverse course. Hmmmm!
Where does that leave me? I have a doctor visit tomorrow and nobody knows what the hell is going on (including me). I can’t wait until November to vote for the same politicians that gave us the great improved healthcare plan.
Love,
Dad