Look around and you can see, even here, that pure Republican lies about the CBO report concerning the medicare doctor fix is being used to smear HCR.
Even if you are against the bill you should want to smash down this Republican tactics.
Google medicare fix and the number one response is this thread from Free Republic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2474951/postsFor those who aren't up to date on the doctor's fix here is some background from NPR:
Since 1997 Congress has been passing the buck on changing the formula that governs how Doctors are paid. When Medicare first passed doctors were given a blank check to charge what they thought was fair = this was done to get doctors in favor of the program and to break a planned boycott. In the begining doctors were quiet modest and honest about the payments. In fact they were happy because lots of the doctors had been treating the elderly for free and now they were getting paid for it.
Then some started to take advantage of the situation and consultants were called in and through thousands of interviews developed an intricate formula that compared all medical procedures i.e. 10 wart removals = 2 tonsilectomies = bobby johns surgey etc.
Those costs outpace inflation and the law requires that the fees should be cut but Congress doesn't want to take on a tough issue and doesn't really think that doctors fees are that far out of whack and most experts agree. Nevertheless because of Congressional inaction that 'overpayment' is now at 21%.
The CBO report estimates that the solution for that is $ 800 billion and they want to combine it to the HCR even though it is completely unrelated.
You can find Minority Leaders spouting these lies, you can find it on FR and now you can read threads here with it.
Even if you hate HCR you have to hate these lies that keep on coming from the Republicans.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/another_shortterm_solution_to.htmlFor years Congress has played a game of cat and mouse when it comes to figuring out how much Medicare should pay doctors.
Smoking a cigarette.
Congress isn't likely to fix a controversial formula for figuring out how much Medicare pays doctors anytime soon.
Under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Medicare has to trim how much it pays doctors when those costs to the program outpace inflation, which they have since 2003.
The automatic cuts are meant to control Medicare spending. But Congress, under pressure from doctors, has routinely overridden that mandate at the last minute to delay the scheduled pay cuts. But each year's postponed reduction gets piled onto the previous scheduled cuts, so the discount that's set to take effect March 1 now stands at 21 percent. The American Medical Association and others have long pressed for a permanent solution to the pay formula. But it appears that the current will on Capitol Hill is to apply the usual temporary patch -- especially now that health reform has stalled.
. . .
American Medical News reports that the AMA is turning increasingly against the stopgap measures aimed at temporarily averting cuts: "We absolutely do not want a temporary fix," said Dr. Nancy Nielsen, immediate past president of the AMA.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
