"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.”
Texas doctors fleeing Medicare in droves | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
New wave of the future? There are things that can and will be done to help this situation but they won't be popular, like more means testing, and will take a long while for the culture to accept, like reducing the extent of end of life intervention care.
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.”
Texas doctors fleeing Medicare in droves | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
New wave of the future? There are things that can and will be done to help this situation but they won't be popular, like more means testing, and will take a long while for the culture to accept, like reducing the extent of end of life intervention care.