HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Possible cuts to cancer and cardiac care.

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 9/16/2009 11:29 AM (GMT 0)
I was unaware of this and am still researching it.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/sep/15/medicare-facing-cancer-cardiac-care/?partner=RSS

Posted 9/16/2009 11:46 AM (GMT 0)
All of us American's need to prepare for a future America where expectations will need to be adjusted downward a bit. That goes for health providers too. The physicians who complain and say they will not treat those with Medicare are only fooling themselves because MOST of the elderly cannot afford to pay out of pocket and if they limit their clients to only those who can pay, those doctors will be going out of business.

To be frank, there isn't a healthcare provider who will suffer with lower reimbursements. The cost of healthcare MUST be controlled. that is the bottom line. However, I will point out one thing that the Republicans want that does make sense and that is limiting lawsuits to only those that are due to gross negligence and result in significant pain and suffering. Doctors ARE human and there are risks to everything they do.

Posted 9/16/2009 12:04 PM (GMT 0)
This will lead to further segregation of the society into those who can afford to pay for the best service and those who have to rely on government. What's great about our healthcare system today is that most insured people have access to the same care, regardless of income.
Posted 9/16/2009 12:13 PM (GMT 0)
Great quote from a doctor about what's wrong with our (the U.S.) current health care system...and what's not.

"One real problem is that we somehow need to separate the two issues within the "health care argument. That is, the business of U.S. health care is catastrophically broken. However, the sophistication and quality of U.S. health care is high and continually improving. We somehow need to focus on the the former and fix this issue of how we pay for health care in America, while improving on the great quality."
Posted 9/17/2009 12:54 AM (GMT 0)

Sephie said...
Great quote from a doctor about what's wrong with our (the U.S.) current health care system...and what's not.

"One real problem is that we somehow need to separate the two issues within the "health care argument. That is, the business of U.S. health care is catastrophically broken. However, the sophistication and quality of U.S. health care is high and continually improving. We somehow need to focus on the the former and fix this issue of how we pay for health care in America, while improving on the great quality."

Excellent quote, this is the fact that the opponents of healthcare reform refuse to acknowledge.  Without a better way of paying for our healthcare we will destroy our economy.  I think the opponents have a few good points, but they lose me completlely when their arguments are filled with paranoia about illegal immigrants and socialized medicine.

We need to fix the way we deliver medicine so that everyone can afford it.  It's that simple.

Posted 9/17/2009 1:55 AM (GMT 0)
No one has addressed how technology has added to the increase in medical costs. Sofisticated drugs to treat cancer and alieviate side affects from chemo are very expensive. New machines like robotics, MRIs and Proton cost money ($100 million for a proton machine); it's got to be a few million for a robot.
I think it is pie in the sky to think that we can reduce medical costs as long as technology keeps driving it. How many on this site chose robotic even though the cost was more?
Treatments for pancreatic cancer costs hundreds of thousands of dollars even though the life expentancy is less than 5 years. These are tough questions and as long as these expensive treatments are available people will demand them.
JT
Posted 9/17/2009 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe the most relevant quote from the linked article - given the headline for this particular topic:

"If enacted as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2010, policy changes recommended by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) -- the government's insurer for the elderly and disabled -- will severely cut current Medicare reimbursements to cardiologists and oncologists for critical care services that are provided to patients in physicians' offices or other out-of-hospital setting, such as chemotherapy to treat cancer, and various cardiac procedures to monitor and treat heart disease, such as nuclear imaging and heart catheterization. " (emphasis added).

It's the reimbursement/payment for out-of-hospital settings that may be adjusted, not all such care - across the board, but odd-ball websites such as the one to which is linked seems to me to be engaged in the "let's scare 'em" game.

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply