Opinion
Serious Medicare repair will start when enough doctors drop out
LETTER — Posted May 14, 2007
Six years ago, I stopped taking Medicare and Medicaid and never looked back. I accept cash only. I do not bill insurance companies, I require the patient to do it, or I bill an administrative fee if the patient requests it. This is the only way my part-time practice stays in the black.
On balance, my patients don't complain, they know the rules. I eliminated 25% of my overhead by eliminating insurance and government program billing. Physicians aren't in the third-party billing business and should leave programs requiring it.
When Medicare loses a quarter of the providers, Congress will finally respond with a decent fee schedule, competitive bidding for Medicare drugs and a means test for the richest Medicare recipients. AARP will accept it because their members are more concerned with losing access than with low co-payments.
Curtis J. Edwards, MD , Olympia, Wash.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/05/14/edlt0514.htm.
