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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Why I Will No Longer Be Able to Accept Medicare or Your Insurance

I was just looking something up for a friend, when I stumbled on this. I remember getting a similar letter from my PCP 5 or so years ago. My Doc is cash or check only.


Thought some of you might find it interesting.



Dear Patient: For over 30 years now, Medicare (aped by private insurance companies) has been increasingly interfering in the patient-doctor relationship, and increasingly meddling in my business, to the point that it is now virtually impossible for me to deliver quality, affordable healthcare, or to enjoy my cherished profession. The alleged purpose of this meddling is to "control costs." But because these efforts have been short-sighted, knee-jerk measures that ignore fundamental laws of economics and human behavior, the actual effect has been to cause healthcare costs to increase at TWICE the rate of inflation. These cost increases are not making doctors or hospitals rich -- average inflation-adjusted physician incomes have steadily declined, in sharp contrast to the wage trends for other professionals. I and a growing number of my fellow physicians are no longer willing to participate in this lunacy that is destroying our healthcare system, depriving many citizens of needed care, stifling medical innovation, and even driving patients overseas to obtain affordable treatment.

To accept your insurance, I and my clinic staff would be required to waste enormous time and other resources coping with numerous complicated requirements intended to limit your test and treatment options. Virtually everything I do as a physician would be subject to being second-guessed, micromanaged, or rejected as "not medically necessary." As a free American, I can no longer in good conscience tolerate this level of government interference in my business, nor should you.


You can read the entire letter here>>>


I also read a bit on his blog, interesting stuff.

9 comments:

Lamb said...

I am passing this on from John at pioneerliving.net...hoping EVERYONE passes it on! It pertains to your blog today as your Congressman won't have to worry about "Obamacare" or Medicare or whatever....

The idea whose time has come. For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress.Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they didn't pay into Social Security, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment.) While ordinary citizens must live under those laws.

The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform that is ...in all of its forms upon us. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop. This is a good way and time to do that. It is an idea whose time has come. Have each person contact a minimum of Twenty people on their Address list, in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around. Either it is passed or "We the People" vote them all out.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."
__________________

The Craftivist said...

My dentist told me the same thing when I asked if he accepted medicaid. He told me the reimbursments were too low and the red tape would tie his hands too much to be able to provide the best quality care for his patients.
Nearly all the doctors in our area no longer accept medicaid. There are two pediatricians in our county that accept it, and to be honest, they aren't the best doctors in the world. There was even a recent article in the newspaper about how medicair clinics and doctors are facing having to close their practices or drop the medicaid because it's costing them too much money to stay afloat.

Phelan said...

Lamb, I did indeed see that from John, thank you for passing it along to me.

kath said...

It's a sad state we're in. My doctor has a sign in his office saying he doesn't accept Medicaid or Medicare any longer also.
I agree with Lamb. This double standard has got to stop. The problem is that if they ever do pass that law, It would definitely not be retroactive and they would build provisions into it so that it probably wouldn't go into effect until these clowns are long dead.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately the bill that is passed is not actually universal healthcare for everyone. There were too many compromises that had to be made to get the thing passes and now most people aren't happy with it. Socialialized medicine takes the ability to profit out of it. Take a look at other systems around the world that use it successfully. The 9 doctor primary care practice that I worked for really wanted to stop accepting insurance also. They didn't do it, because they were afraid people wouldn't go to the doctor until situations were emergencies and that people couldn't get regular care if they stopped taking insurance. They were right. They did whatever was necessary to make sure that they could simply keep giving care to people who need it. I was in the Army and became disabled through an accident, so now I have Medicare. You wouldn't believe how many doctor's no longer take Medicare. Every time I ask, they say that it is because Medicare doesn't pay enough. So....they refuse to see the older and disabled patients that need care because of the money??? And that is within the Hippocratic Oath how? Oh, right, because they are trying to make a profit and also provide some medical care. My ex-husband had health insurance and needed surgery. He went to their doctor, got a preauthorization and had the surgery. After the surgery, the insurance revoked their authorization and he was stuck with a $14,000 bill that drove him into bankruptcy. Even those that play by private insurance's rules still get screwed sometimes. Everyone, everyone, everyone deserves universal healthcare and we all need to pay for it. We aren't living in a third world country where other countries have to come in and set up clinics or the Red Cross has to come set up a tent for us to get medical care. I love this country, but does loving our independence really mean that we just don't care if our neighbor has a serious medical problem that goes unchecked until it becomes life or death for the emergency room? We all complain about national debt- which is lunacy- but we keep spending anyway. Believe it or not...I'm not even out of breath by all this spouting off, but I think I should stop, huh? Oh, and Lamb is right about the double standards for the lawmakers. How annoying...

Anonymous said...

As a Canadian I watch the debate in your country with interest. I have lived in the US with great healthcare and with poor healthcare and I wouldn't trade what you guys have for our system, not in a million years. It stuns me that people are afraid of universal health care. You know not of what you speak, people.

The absolute maximum we pay for our families, unlimited numbers of children, within the highest income bracket, is $114 per month. There is no such thing as a copay and the medical care here is excellent despite the anecdotal (and usually sensationalist) reports to the contrary heard in the US media.

Yes, it's expensive. But I pay my taxes here happily knowing what you folks south of the border have to go through if you aren't lucky enough to have a top notch plan through your employer. Best of luck to you guys!

Phelan said...

I have never paid that much for health insurance. When we had it, we paid $75 a month for all 5 of us. When we didn't, I pay $45 a visit for myself, less for my children and still got the same care.

The US government can not tell us we have to buy a product. That is the main beef about the whole thing. That is not how our Constitution is written.

Anonymous said...

Well...maybe that is why my family immigrated here in the first place. They thought they were moving somewhere that was worth us risking our lives for. Perhaps it is time for us to pack up and immigrate somewhere else like Canada because I don't like the way that America is heading. If these are the things that America is proud of itself for, I am ashamed. My best friend has four children and is a stay at home mom. Her husband works a modest job that has insurance. They literally do not use the medical insurance when they should because of the copay for the office visit and the copay for the meds after the office visit. Using their dental insurance is even more of a joke because the copays are higher. These examples can't be so far away from the mainstream experience that they aren't representative. These have to be common experiences. Even my own mother, who is in good health, has told me a time or two even though she was sick that she had to wait until pay day to see a doctor- and she works for a doctor (a specialist). She also argued with her doctor on which medicine to put her on for her high blood pressure medicine because the copay was in a higher tier than the cheap ones, even though the doctor insisted he wanted her on one that worked better for her than ones in the cheap column... these things have to be common. Maybe that's ok to the rest of you, but it is not to me. Maybe it's because I've seen professionally what happens to people who wait until the last minute to get health care because of cost. If you are reading this and you've never felt a pinch from your premiums or copays; if you've been lucky enough to not fall through the cracks where you are not destitute enough for state run "Medicaid" but not working a job that offers insurance; if you really think that it is ok that your fellow Americans struggle with this, I'm glad that God has blessed you into oblivion, but we have nothing in common. Maybe it's because my disabled daughter needed $200 a month for one of her medicines for about 2 years before she had any health insurance (that's not of course counting doctor visits, testing, and other meds). Maybe it's my friends that spend month/years with infected mouths because they can't afford to even have their teeth pulled out- much less treated and have their teeth saved, from lack of dental insurance. Would you at least go for universal dental insurance? You know what...I'll just stop here because if you don't care about the plight of other Americans now, my examples probably aren't going to change that. Maybe I shouldn't have gotten advanced degrees and volunteered to serve in the American military where I became disabled in the line of duty. Maybe I should have defected to some other country where at least I could have had something in common with the other people that live there. Hey ruralinspirations, this is going to be a trend- the USA might just start losing citizens that they might like to keep...

Dark Spice said...

i have a great idea. we get rid of the whole Healthcare Reform bill. The people that want free healthcare can move to Canada where they already have it. =P

I'm actually at least partially kidding about the above.

On a more serious note, I'm not against reforming our healthcare system so much as the Healthcare Bill will make everyone's taxes go up (weren't taxes what started the American Revolution? oh yeah...) and people who don't want it HAVE TO HAVE IT.

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