Letters to the Editor

Congress Must Save Medicare From Senseless Cuts

January 28, 2002

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's recommendation to reform Medicare's flawed formula for determining payments to health care providers is long overdue [Bipartisan Medicare Panel to Call for More Spending, Jan. 20]. The current formula ties Medicare payments to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This links increases in physician payment to the nation's economic growth, not to the growth of physician's costs, which are increasing faster than the economy.

Congress needs to take quick action to remedy the situation before the Medicare program suffers irreparable harm. Physicians now face the fourth across the board cut in payments in 10 years. These cuts come at a time when doctors are beset with heavy new regulatory costs and sharp increases in the price of professional liability insurance.

The Medicare program will face a huge influx of new patients in the coming years as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age. The program needs to be put on a sound financial footing now before reduced Medicare payments produce an inevitable shrinkage of available health care providers and services.

William Hall, MD, FACP
President
American College of Physicians - American Society of Internal Medicine
Chief, General Medicine, Geriatrics Unit
PO Box MED
University of Rochester
601 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14642
(716) 275-4310
william_hall@urmc.rochester.edu

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