Medicare scams...and cuts

The names of deceased doctors were used by some fraudulent dealers in the sale of durable medical equipment, it is reported in USA Today.

Despite learning of the problem in 2001, the government failed to fix it, the report says. Investigators reviewed billing data submitted by equipment suppliers from 2000 to 2007 using the ID numbers of 1,500 deceased doctors.

This comes at a time when doctors are pressing Congress not to push for cuts and patients are finding it more difficult to obtain care from physicians due to cuts in what physicians receive.News articles report that doctors are bailing out of treating Medicare patients.

Just before the Fourth of July recess, the House passed a bill to prevent the Medicare pay cut by a vote of 355 to 59. In the Senate, Republicans blocked efforts to take up the bill, so the cut took effect on July 1, as required by the formula. But the Bush administration has delayed processing of new claims to give Congress time to come up with a compromise.

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, said he planned to force another vote this week, and Democrats pressed their case over the weekend in their national radio address.

Democrats need just one more vote to pass the bill, and they hope to win over Republicans who were hit by advertisements over the recess. The advertisements assert that Republicans have been protecting “powerful insurance companies at the expense of Medicare patients’ access to doctors.”

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But President Bush has vowed to veto the bill, so the fight — and the uncertainty — could continue for weeks.

via USAToday.com

For a doctor's commentary on how the cuts to doctors will affect health care on his blog, click here.