Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Medicare Cuts Killing Patients

My family has been in health care for 40+ years. And I fear there are looming problems that is coming to patients who use Medicare. If Congress has its way, Medicare cuts will put a cap on patient health care. What this means is, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and other physicians will NOT be paid if they treat a patient after so many occurences. Though the exact details are still in debate, the main purpose at Capitol Hill is to "cut" patient health care.

This is an example of stupid politics, where politicians decide what's good for the nation without considering the future costs. If a patient is no longer able to go to his physician or any preventive care, there are additional complications that may occur; hence, the patient takes on other sickness or illnesses and in the end, dies.

Here's a layman's example of what potentially could occur if Congress continues to put cuts on patients: once a patient reaches a certain amount of visits, regardless of whether they are healed from their problems, they will no longer be able to come back for additional treatments. Additionally, they will be restricted on preventive care such as physical therapy. Instead of allowing physicians to prevent the problem, they are letting patients slowly develop diseases and die.

Great job Congress...for the people and by the people?

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