Re: Medicare patients feeling the crunch
- From: phil scott <phil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:53:52 -0000
On Sep 23, 10:54 am, El Castor <No_...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:38:49 -0700, NoName <non...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sun, 23 Sep 2007 09:48:57 -0400, Jim Higgins
<gordian...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Medicare patients feeling the crunch
http://www.dhonline.com/articles/2007/09/23/news/top_story/1aaa01_med...
When Dan and Christine Morissette decided to move her ailing father from
Seattle to live with them in Corvallis, their first order of business
was to find a local physician to look after him.
The octogenarian is covered by Medicare, the federal health insurance
program for the elderly, so the Morissettes thought it would be a simple
matter of making a phone call and scheduling an appointment. Instead, it
turned into a painful lesson in the harsh realities of health care
economics in America.
"We called the Corvallis Clinic because that's where most of us are
seen," said Dan Morissette. "They basically said, 'No, we're not going
to take Medicare patients.'"
Next the couple tried Corvallis Family Medicine, where their daughter
goes for health care.
"They said yes, but the doctor we wanted to see we weren't going to be
able to see because he already had his quota of Medicare patients."
That is very scary. I guess those on Medicare need to do a thorough
investigation before moving to a new area.
In San Diego I have no problem finding GPs or specialists who accept
the Medicare HMO insurance I have.
However, I didn't know doctors were allowed to establish quotas for
the number of Medicare patients they are willing to see.
Think about what you just said. Regardless of what the law says, how
can a doctor be forced to care for more patients than he is physically
capable of handling? You've seen the stories I've posted about people
in the UK pulling their own teeth because the NHS dentists are full
up. How about the Canadian man with a cancerous brain tumor who was
expected to wait three months for an MRI and another three to see a
surgeon? Inevitably any healthcare scheme that bypasses the free
market and puts the screws to the fees that doctors and technicians
can charge for their services will result in rationing of scarce human
resources and/or expensive drugs and procedures.
As an economics professor once put it to a class I attended, you can
fix the price of toilet paper at 10 cents a roll, but if you do you
will soon find yourself wiping your bottom with newspaper.
Jeff
My understanding was that doctors CAN refuse to accept any Medicare
patients but if they accept any then they are not allowed to pick and
choose the number they will see.
Apparently I was wrong.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
govt and special interests will try to mask the real problem, that is
a govt sucking the national rescources dry... you can look at those
figures, in many cities govt is growing at twice the population
rate... and their salaries and retirements at even faster rates.
thats not sustainable. Buts its not published much, when it is its
brief and story dies the next day.
when city funds dry up, the screaming starts, then where all the money
goes comes onto the table. we will be shocked. I talked to an
insurance consultant to the city of SF a year or two ago...they called
him to ask what they could do about 30% of its staff at any given time
being off on workmans comp... (as the rest then drew over time pay to
cover for them).... the cities and states you see cant print money.
(the fed though to avert a domino effect crash props these citys and
states up by giving money to their banks and demanding they loan it
loosely to those not deserving of the credit...that keeps the mess
floating as the new money enters the local economy.
Im sure the hope is that the money supply can be managed
internationally so that all currencies keep printing and it all rises
in unision floating all boats.... good theory.. I think it will work
to some extent... long enough maybe for govt to bloat way beyond the
threshold of no return. There are always limits to how bogus
something can get.
Darwins law will handle the fall out.)
There are countless other issues... the use of High Glucose corn syrup
for instance, zero in 1965... 60 lbs a year per person now, parallels
the diabetes and fat epidemic... the stuff raises blood sugar but
fails to trigger an insulin release as sugar and starches do...so
blood sugar goes up with all the attendant damages unimpeded by the
bodies natural defenses... there are many other similar issues.
we are being poisoned by corporations that could give a rats ass about
anything but thier own bottom lines... imo.
Govt btw issues diet recommendations that make diabetes worse (what
works is high protien, high fiber, raw, and very low or no starch)...
the FDA says grains are vital. the oposite is true. eating like a
cave man would works...thats what our bodies evolved to handle, not
the processed starches etc so profitable to the food mfgrs.
I think we are a nation run by criminally insane morons... the few
with a conscience dont have much of a chance in that mix. imo
Phil Scott
.
- References:
- Medicare patients feeling the crunch
- From: Jim Higgins
- Re: Medicare patients feeling the crunch
- From: NoName
- Re: Medicare patients feeling the crunch
- From: El Castor
- Medicare patients feeling the crunch
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