ABC has a neat quiz for us to try, and to help us figure out which candidate best matches up with our opinions. I can’t vouch for the accuracy, but it was interesting to take, and did help focus on the issues. I am leaving the link “as is” as some folks hesitate to do the linking thing without knowing where it comes from. Have fun:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/fullpage/match-matic-presidential-candidate-2012-match-15177995
Please stop calling this a Payroll tax cut. It is a Social Security non-payment into the system. Now that I have gotton that out of the way, let me move on.
“Congress has again failed to fulfill its responsibilities,” said Dr. Peter Carmel, the group’s president. “It is shameful that patients and physicians are the collateral damage.”
Just say that since I work in healthcare, I have a vested interest in this unreported aspect of the gamesmanship going down in D.C. If anyone thinks that Doctors will continue to take and treat Medicare patients, think again. They are already losing money on Medicare patients due to the low reimbursement rate. It is even worse for Hospitals. They are required to treat these patients, and many physicians that are on staff are employees of the Hospitals. The GOPers are giving Obama a gift with this one. Most hospitals are on the brink financially, this will just about finish them. Mandated care coming our way with another nail in the coffin of our Healthcare system as we know it. Another 27 percent cut coming down. Well done GOPers.
Medicare sent an alert to doctors on Monday telling them it will hold claims for the first 10 business days of 2012 unless Congress acts to waive the cuts.
On Tuesday, Blum said holding claims any longer than that could cause problems for Medicare’s computers, designed to expedite payment. That disclosure may come as a shock to lawmakers, since Medicare was able to hold claims for more than 20 days during a similar standoff last year during the summer.
If allowed to go through, such steep cuts could undermine care for millions of elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries, as well as military retirees. Payment rates in the Pentagon’s program are pegged to Medicare.
And doctors are not the only medical providers affected. Therapists, nurse practitioners and other professionals are also covered by the same payment system. Some doctors have said they will stop taking new Medicare patients.
WASHINGTON — Nearly 650,000 doctors caring for millions of seniors will get a steep cut in Medicare payments Jan. 18 unless a gridlocked Congress issues a reprieve, program officials said Tuesday.
A provision waiving a scheduled 27.4 percent cut in physician reimbursement was included in the payroll tax legislation now ensnared in partisan political wrangling between the House and Senate.
Tax legislation passed by the Senate last week included a two-month Medicare reprieve, but House Republicans rejected that Tuesday.Huffington Post
