Freedom Line Blog

Part of the so-called “cost savings” in the House version of health care reform are premised on large cuts to Medicare, a typical sore spot for senior citizens.

One area that is scheduled to be on the chopping block is reimbursement payments to physicians participating in the Medicare program.  Current reimbursement rates are insultingly low, and as a result, some doctors refuse to even participate in Medicare.

The House health care bill calls for an additional 21 percent reduction in payments to physicians, to begin in 2010. Judging from this CBO statement, even the green eyeshade folks don’t believe Congress will allow doctors to take another hit to reimbursement rates:

The bill would put into effect (or leave in effect) a number of procedures that might be difficult to maintain over a long period of time. It would leave in place the 21 percent reduction in the payment rates for physicians currently scheduled for 2010. At the same time, the bill includes a number of provisions that would constrain payment rates for other providers of Medicare services.”

Any failure to contain Medicare costs, despite the surge of new beneficiaries over the next decade, will surely turn health care reform into another budget-breaker.

P.T. Barnum, the American businessman, politician and showman remembered most for his celebrated hoaxes, is widely credited with coining the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”  Judging by the fortune he was able to acquire on his traveling band of circus freaks, one would be hard-pressed to argue Barnum’s point.  Indeed today, nearly 150 years later, the so-called leaders of the current Congress are seemingly taking Barnum’s words to heart.

“Medicare for Everyone” — That’s the headline branded above the fold today on the front page of the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill.  The accompanying story leads with:

Say hello to ‘Medicare Part E’ — as in, ‘Medicare for Everyone.’

“House Democrats are looking at re-branding the public health insurance option as Medicare, an established government healthcare program that is better known than the public option.

“The strategy could benefit Democrats struggling to bridge the gap between liberals in their party, who want the public option, and centrists, who are worried it would drive private insurers out of business.”

In other words, Congressional Democrats have resorted to scheming up a public relations re-branding campaign in an effort to sell their government-run public option (the hoax) to an American public (in their minds, the sucker) that has thus far rejected it at every turn.

Step right up folks!  Welcome to the modern day version of “The Greatest Show on Earth” that is “health care reform.”

President Obama loves the Mayo Clinic.  President Obama loves Medicare.  But the Mayo Clinic doesn’t love Medicare.

The Arizona Republic reported on Friday that,

One of the Mayo Clinic’s two family-medicine practices in Arizona soon will stop accepting Medicare, leaving thousands of patients to pay out of pocket for routine doctor’s visits or find a new physician. … Hospital officials called the new policy a ‘two year pilot program’ and said Thursday that the changes are necessary because of low Medicare reimbursement rates.”

Does anyone recall that one of the provisions of “health care reform” is to reduce Medicare reimbursements to doctors even further?  Medical insurance that doctors won’t take just doesn’t seem like a healthy reform.

Medicare, the Patron Saint of all that is right with government health care, generally has a positive image.  Despite its massive pending fiscal fallout looming in 2017, seniors are mostly satisfied with the program.  However, tales of Medicare’s greatness are vastly exaggerated.

Michael Moore, for example, made millions (thanks capitalism!) depicting insurance companies as villains denying coverage to the poor and sick.  Government health care, we are told, cares only about compassion and serving those loyal taxpayers who have forked over 12.4% of their salary during their lives to a bankrupt federal program.

Well, according to the American Medical Association (p.2), Medicare actually has the highest percentage of claims denied.  Yes, even the benevolent government-run system that so many liberals in Congress seek to emulate loves denying coverage to taxpayers and patients.

Per the AMA 2008 Nationl Health Insurer Report Card:  Medicare denied 6.85% of claims, compared to a 2.9% denial rate by Humana and a 2.68% denial rate by United Health Care.

The next time you hear someone proclaim the virtues of a public option, remind them that if Medicare is any example, our health care system is in for even more trouble.