AMA Highlights Oregon as Problematic in Cuts to Medicare Physicians Payments

According to the American Medical Association press release from Tuesday, the American Medical Association will cut Medicare physicians payments in Oregon 10 percent on January 1, 2008.

Jeremy A. Lazarus M.D., the American Medical Association's House of Delegates Speakers stated in the press release that "more than half a million seniors in Oregon depend on Medicare for their health care coverage, and they will be negatively affected by the Medicare cuts to physicians." He also went on to add that "according to the AMA's (American Medical Association) new physician survey, 60 percent of physicians say they will be forced to limit new Medicare patients when the government cuts payment rates by 10 percent next year."

The change in the Medicare payments does not only apply to just Oregon residents but applies to the entire nation. When the cut happens in 2008, more than half of the Medicare physicians will half to reduce their staff by half, and 14 percent of physicians will get out of practicing all together. If the plan to reduce Medicare payments goes as planned, by the year 2015, a 40 percent cut would be imminent. With numbers like that, Medicare physicians would have to reduce their staff by almost 75 percent and almost 60 percent of physicians would stop providing care.

In the recent survey conducted by the American Medical Association on 8,955 physicians, 60 percent responded that they would have to limit the number of new Medicare patients that they treat. It also states that if the 10 percent cut goes into effect, physicians will have to defer investments made into their practices which include the purchase of new equipment.

According the Medicare Rights Center, 41 million Americans had Medicare coverage in 2003. 35 million of that were people over the age of 65 and six million of 41 million were under the age of 65 with disabilities. Since Medicare came about in 1966, the number of people that have it has nearly doubled in volume. It is assumed by the year 2030 that nearly 77 million people will be receiving Medicare.