Low pay from Medicaid keeps doctors away from primary care

We end up looking high and low for MD's to care for our individuals with developmental disabilities when then need specialty care. Most reject outright.

Add the fact that a lot of Medicaid patients end up being no-shows, which further burdens a medical practice.

Don't worry, Obama is look at Medicare/Medicaid as the model for our new health care system.

Actually, we all should worry - a lot.

We are watching the decline of our health system under Obama's socialist vision. This is the same guy whose solution to the energy crisis was to tell people to fill up their tires, and get tune-ups. So now, if you need back surgery, his solution is to take pain pills instead? Of course, when the pain pills blow out your kidneys, or liver then you will need a kidney or liver transplant. I hope 2010 brings about hope and change.

WillTheDefendantRise wrote:

We are watching the decline of our health system under Obama's socialist vision. This is the same guy whose solution to the energy crisis was to tell people to fill up their tires, and get tune-ups. So now, if you need back surgery, his solution is to take pain pills instead? Of course, when the pain pills blow out your kidneys, or liver then you will need a kidney or liver transplant. I hope 2010 brings about hope and change.

Yes.

Remember, when Obama talks about "hope", what he really means is that we are all to hope that things don't get too bad while he and the other liberals/Democrats ruin our vibrant Capitalism and bring in their Socialism.

Ruining the healthcare system is one of the "sacrifices" that we all must make so as to make everyone "equal."

"'I believe the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.''Well, I believe the puppet on the left is more to my liking.' Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding up both puppets!'Go back to bed, America, your government is in control. Here's Love Connection, watch this and get fat and stupid. By the way, keep drinking beer.'"

-Bill Hicks

Thank God Obama is finally doing something about health care. We will go bankrupt with our current approach, and it's not as successful in terms of healthier Americans compared to other countries. Bush was so distracted by Iraq, he dumped so much junk on Obama. Thankfully a lot of this mess occurred before Bush left office so Republicans can't complain it was Obama's fault. No it was Bush's fault and he was one of the worst presidents ever.

Ira wrote:

Thank God Obama is finally doing something about health care. We will go bankrupt with our current approach, and it's not as successful in terms of healthier Americans compared to other countries. Bush was so distracted by Iraq, he dumped so much junk on Obama. Thankfully a lot of this mess occurred before Bush left office so Republicans can't complain it was Obama's fault. No it was Bush's fault and he was one of the worst presidents ever.

Yea, that's the ticket.

Obama is going to ruin our healthcare system.

He's going to take the worst parts and get rid of the best parts. If you look at Medicare/Medicaid, you'll find they are basically bankrupt - so Obama is going to build new bureaucracies. As government bureaucracies are all the same, you can see what we will get.

The liberals keep telling us how bad insurance companies are and how bad HMO's are, but Obama will turn the Federal Government (which doesn't do much very well) into our ONLY insurance choice and, effectively, it will be a HMO. So we will all get one HMO. This is called "bad."

Since doctors will get paid what Obama's "experts" think is right and the "experts" will choose our treatments, the quality will die (pun intended.)

You are basically all wrong.

"In his hourlong speech last week in Chicago, Obama said the fee-for-service system rewards "quantity of care rather than the quality of care," adding, "That pushes you, the doctor ... to order that extra MRI or EKG, even if it's not necessary."
"
This is utter BS.
The reason a lot of these 'extra procedures' are offered is that if they are not done, there's a greater chance of a malpractice lawsuit.

Go in to any cardiologist's office and they'll order a stress test. Its more for the doctor's benefit than for the patients.

If Obama was serious about medical cost reforms, then he'll enact tort reform.

Oh wait, that would limit the amount of malpractice lawsuits and hurt lawyers. Now what lawyer would want to enact a reform that limits their ability to make a living?

Alz wrote:

<quoted text>
Since doctors will get paid what Obama's "experts" think is right and the "experts" will choose our treatments, the quality will die (pun intended.)

And this is different from having a private insurer doing essentially the same thing?

Sorry but if you want health care reform you have to do things that will stop money from leaking from the health care industry.

Malpractice insurance is probably the largest chunk of change that doctors face regardless of their ability to practice medicine. The bulk of the malpractice lawsuits are 'frivolous'.

But where will you find an honest lawyer who is willing to enact changes to the legal system which limits the ability of someone to sue someone?

Plain and simple, if the doctors are unhappy as to the amount that medicaid pays, then they should refuse to see medicaid patients unless they also have a supplemental insurance. Most seniors on Medicare have supplemental insurance to cover what Medicare doesn't, same concept.

Oh good, pay doctors bonuses for good outcomes! What this means is instead of an insurance carrier bouncing you because you are more likely to get sick, a doctor is going to bounce you because you are more likely to get sick and screw up his quality of care statistics and ruin his pay.

TORT REFORM :

These two words represent the solution to the problem on many levels.

Unfortunately, Congress is an assemblage of lawyers, people not renowned for moral fiber, or common sense for that matter. We have heard virtually nothing about tort reform since the curreny debate started because neither party wants it and the ninnies in the media would sooner have themselves and their children thrown into inferior healthcare than to take, or even report on, a position opposed to what our Socialist President yearns for.

Pitiful.

The writer of this article does not know that there is a big difference between talking with a patient for a .5 hour and performing a colonoscopy for the same time ( more risk and equipment and people involved ). This kind of makes the point that it is hard for non-doctors to see what good health care is.

Because of the FDA and the AMA becoming a doctor is way too long and expensive. If we could drastically shorten up the cost and time to get a MD then we could get more doctors willing to work for less. Just create legislation to allow non-MD's to practice medicine provided their patients consent and sign a waiver of liability. Allow third part law suits, but thats it. problem solved. how many EMTs paramedics, nurses, even aids can diagnose and treat symptoms as good as most doctors. take them off their high horse. create a bazaar out of this bureaucracy!

I would rather pay a freelancing EMT-P for a regular checkup or a prescription. doctors have blinders on and dont get out much

As a medical biller processing in excess of 20K primary care provider claims per month to ILPA...the biggest problem is not the level of reimbursement, but actually getting anything from them. They simply do not pay and are broke most of the time.

Sorry, the median salary for primary care physicians is well over $150,000 per year. I have seen figures of $180,000 per year. Still a comfortable salary, if you ask me. In the example cited in the article about the gastroenterologist, I understand that this specialist requires more equipment, higher malpractice, etc. But if the excess of $300 per hour was justified based on additional expenses, then from a rational perspective, there is no difference between the salary of an Internist and a gastroenterologist: The extra pay for the gastroenterologist is simply eaten up with expenses and he/she in the end earns the same as the Internist. Since more physicians are flocking to the specialties, it must therefore be that the premium that these specialists make exceeds the additional costs of their specialization.
Thus, it seems to me that the extremely high pay of specialists is simply not justified. Somebody is milking the system.
To me, the key is not raising the salary of Internists. Instead it is about reducing the salaries of the specialists. Remember, it is relative. The Internists looks at the specialist and says I need to make as much as he/she does. If the specialist makes less, the Internist will feel relatively better off (i.e., less jealous). And Medicare/medicaid would save a lot of money and a Public Option would suddenly be affordable!!!

i think you all need to realize whats going on here is wrong. i was just told by someone that she has not been paid in one month because of the medicaid situation and medicaid will not pay the doctors so they cant pay the staff. my son has an absest tooth and they cant pull it, they gave me a prescription and when i got it filled they told me that after yesterday all medicaid is no good that came from the doctors office and the pharmacy. i think health care workers and pharmacy people know more than we do and there is something the government doesnt want us to know.

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spongebob wrote:

i think you all need to realize whats going on here is wrong. i was just told by someone that she has not been paid in one month because of the medicaid situation and medicaid will not pay the doctors so they cant pay the staff. my son has an absest tooth and they cant pull it, they gave me a prescription and when i got it filled they told me that after yesterday all medicaid is no good that came from the doctors office and the pharmacy. i think health care workers and pharmacy people know more than we do and there is something the government doesnt want us to know.

Sponge is a good name for you.