I hate fuckin doctors

[Dana]

i think they were trying to pass a bill here at one time so all doctors would accept state/govt funded insurance. It sure would make things a lot easier. I mean I've had the same nuerologist for years why not the same everyday doctor?

 

[retro]

i think they were trying to pass a bill here at one time so all doctors would accept state/govt funded insurance. It sure would make things a lot easier. I mean I've had the same nuerologist for years why not the same everyday doctor?

Honestly, I would vehemently disagree with such a law. If you had any clue how absurd the contracts that Medicare/Medicaid are, you might feel the same way. In some situations, it actually ends up costing the physician money to see a Medicare/Medicaid patient. They basically low-ball the providers, and they have no choice but to accept or not see those patients at all. My dad's clinic has actually stopped accepting MediCal patients altogether.

Additionally, with how much they're cutting physician reimbursements, there are physicians considering closing their practices, because they would no longer be able to afford to see patients. Granted, this is only about 10-15% of General Practitioners, but it all adds up. These cuts are being made by Medicare because it's an insolvent system, and it's about the only way they're able to stay afloat, other than Congress just allocating more money to it, money that doesn't exist in the first place.

 

[Dana]

Honestly, I would vehemently disagree with such a law. If you had any clue how absurd the contracts that Medicare/Medicaid are, you might feel the same way. In some situations, it actually ends up costing the physician money to see a Medicare/Medicaid patient. They basically low-ball the providers, and they have no choice but to accept or not see those patients at all. My dad's clinic has actually stopped accepting MediCal patients altogether.

Additionally, with how much they're cutting physician reimbursements, there are physicians considering closing their practices, because they would no longer be able to afford to see patients. Granted, this is only about 10-15% of General Practitioners, but it all adds up. These cuts are being made by Medicare because it's an insolvent system, and it's about the only way they're able to stay afloat, other than Congress just allocating more money to it, money that doesn't exist in the first place.

Oh i can imagine MaineCare has dicked me around more than a few times.

 

[retro]

Sorry to derail your thread here Dana.... it's just that the whole Medicare/Medicaid crap pisses me off to no end. I spent four years working at a medical clinic, one of which I had to deal directly with Medicare for patient authorizations. Plus my dad is a physician who has already given up his practice except for 2 days a week because of the Medicare crap... forced him to look for an administrative job. Fortunately for him, the local hospital is starting up a residency program, so he's the director of it now. Otherwise, he wasn't sure how he was going to be able to stay in practice without cutting almost all of his Medicare patients.

 

[Dana]

Sorry to hear that

 

[retro]

Sorry to hear that

Well, in the long run it was a good move for him. He's always loved teaching, so this will give him what he's wanted... the ability to see some patients, as well as teach recent medical school graduates. But there are other physicians out there that don't have that option. Family/General Practice physicians don't have near the options that specialists have.

 

[Alien Allen]

That is the big concern about the future of medicine in this country. There are less and less wanting to go into family practice. You think you have to wait now just wait and see how bad it gets

 

[Natasha]

Even a family doctor you have seen for years is not going to remember details I would suspect.

That's what's awesome about our bone doctor. First off, he's in his 70s and is supposed to have retired, but he's still working full time. He's been our doctor long enough that he actually was my mom's parent's doctor. Believe me, we've had plenty of broken bones over the years, but he still remembers details. When my mom sprained her ankle a few years ago he asked her "isn't that the same ankle you broke about 20 years ago???" She said "no, I think that was the other one"...so he pulled her chart and, sure enough, he was right. Now THAT was impressive.

 

[Dana]

That's what's awesome about our bone doctor. First off, he's in his 70s and is supposed to have retired, but he's still working full time. He's been our doctor long enough that he actually was my mom's parent's doctor. Believe me, we've had plenty of broken bones over the years, but he still remembers details. When my mom sprained her ankle a few years ago he asked her "isn't that the same ankle you broke about 20 years ago???" She said "no, I think that was the other one"...so he pulled her chart and, sure enough, he was right. Now THAT was impressive.

I had the same neural surgeon from birth up until my teens when he retired...

 

[Tuffdisc]

Reading the title, no offence to you Dana, but if you hate effing doctors, then stop effing them :24:

 

[JoeCool10]

Honestly, I would vehemently disagree with such a law. If you had any clue how absurd the contracts that Medicare/Medicaid are, you might feel the same way. In some situations, it actually ends up costing the physician money to see a Medicare/Medicaid patient. They basically low-ball the providers, and they have no choice but to accept or not see those patients at all. My dad's clinic has actually stopped accepting MediCal patients altogether.

Additionally, with how much they're cutting physician reimbursements, there are physicians considering closing their practices, because they would no longer be able to afford to see patients. Granted, this is only about 10-15% of General Practitioners, but it all adds up. These cuts are being made by Medicare because it's an insolvent system, and it's about the only way they're able to stay afloat, other than Congress just allocating more money to it, money that doesn't exist in the first place.

Is this why Medicaid won't cover all of my son's albuterol?