Dear Patient: Why I Can No Longer Accept Medicare
In a recent posting, a physician proposes a letter to his patient’s that explains why he will be unable to accept Medicare and Insurance. He explains that the intervention of government and insurance companies in the doctor’s office has damaged the physician-patient relationship. Click below to read through the physician comments and see the results of the nearly 800 physicians who responded to the survey.
Originally Posted to the Sermo Community
by: EurekaDoc, Family Medicine
Dear Colleagues,
Regardless of what ends up being the punch-line of Congress' current "healthcare reform" joke, one thing is becoming undeniably clear: To reclaim our freedom to practice medicine without oppressive government and bureaucratic meddling, WE MUST BEGIN TO WITHDRAW FROM MEDICARE, MEDICAID AND ALL CONTRACTUAL INSURANCE. To give both ourselves and our patients time to adapt, we can do this gradually over 2-3 years, one contract at a time. To help explain this essential process to our patients, I propose the following. - Dan Jones, MD
Why I Will No Longer Be Able to Accept Medicare or Your Insurance
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania (1759)
"...every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment." -- Justice Louis Brandeis (Olmstead v. US)
Dear Patient: For over 30 years now, Medicare (aped by private insurance companies) has been increasingly interfering in the patient-doctor relationship, and increasingly meddling in my business, to the point that it is now virtually impossible for me to deliver quality, affordable healthcare, or to enjoy my cherished profession. The alleged purpose of this meddling is to "control costs." But because these efforts have been short-sighted, knee-jerk measures that ignore fundamental laws of economics and human behavior, the actual effect has been to cause healthcare costs to increase at TWICE the rate of inflation. These cost increases are not making doctors or hospitals rich -- average inflation-adjusted physician incomes have steadily declined, in sharp contrast to the wage trends for other professionals. I and a growing number of my fellow physicians are no longer willing to participate in this lunacy that is destroying our healthcare system, depriving many citizens of needed care, stifling medical innovation, and even driving patients overseas to obtain affordable treatment.
To accept your insurance, I and my clinic staff would be required to waste enormous time and other resources coping with numerous complicated requirements intended to limit your test and treatment options. Virtually everything I do as a physician would be subject to being second-guessed, micromanaged, or rejected as "not medically necessary." As a free American, I can no longer in good conscience tolerate this level of government interference in my business, nor should you.
History proves that services can only be provided at the lowest cost with the greatest quality when service providers (such as doctors) compete with each other in a free market, based on quality, reputation and price. Medicare and most insurance contracts PREVENT doctors from competing based on quality and price. This is horribly inefficient and, in my opinion, downright un-American. In fact, Medicare's economic policies (price controls and central bureaucratic planning and micromanagement) ape the spectacularly failed Communist economic policies of the former Soviet Union! No wonder healthcare costs have been steadily increasing as efficiency has steadily declined during the Medicare era.
I understand this situation may be difficult for you financially. It is certainly a financial hardship for me and my staff, since our patient visits and income are bound to decrease. However, we will do our best to make our fees affordable for you. Despite the hardship, I feel strongly that it is important for both doctors and patients to stand up for our right to live and work free from harmful government or bureaucratic meddling.
If you have private insurance: I encourage your to change to a high-deductible policy, combined with an HSA (Health Savings Account) to pay for your office visits and other minor medical expenses. You should specify a policy that reimburses all expenses submitted by a licensed doctor, without requirements for "prior authorization" or limitations based on ICD or CPT codes. (This office can no longer afford the expense of providing those codes, the only purpose of which is to limit your test and treatment options.) You will probably find this approach costs you less overall, while accumulating money for your retirement.
If you have Medicare or Medicaid: You should be mad as hell -- I know I am. I've been paying Medicare taxes my entire adult life, and it infuriates me that the federal government has so mangled and miss-managed Medicare and Medicaid that I and many other doctors can no longer accept these insurances. Please call, write or email your congressmen immediately and let them know, LOUD AND CLEARLY that:
1. You're mad as hell at the way they've screwed up Medicare and Medicaid so badly that few physicians are willing to accept them, and…
2. You want them to FIX Medicare and Medicaid so that they are compatible with economic realities and American ideals.
<INSERT CONTACT INFO FOR YOUR CONGRESSMEN HERE.>
In the meantime, I will do my best to make my fees affordable for you, until Congress is able to fix the sorry mess they've created.
Yours For Better Healthcare,
Daniel Jones, MD
www.JonesPlan.BlogSpot.com
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