Cut in reimbursements for medicare

With physician reimbursements set to drop 10 percent, doctors will begin evaluating whether to stay with Medicare.

Senate Republicans blocked action last week on Democratic-backed legislation that would have averted the fee cut by instead reducing payments to insurers that provide benefits through Medicare Advantage plans. Republicans said that the insurer cuts, which the House approved, were too deep and that the Bush administration had threatened to veto the measure. Congress is set to be in recess until July 7.

Physician Reimbursements Flawed

The American Medical Association said recently that insurance companies often fail to properly reimburse doctors, needlessly adding more than $200 billion a year to the nation's healthcare tab.

In a six-month period beginning in October an analysis found that doctors in the U.S. spend 14% of the fees they receive from insurers and Medicare on the process of collecting those fees, in a report issued at an AMA annual meeting in Chicago.

The analysis sized up insurers and Medicare on how often they paid on time, how often they denied claims and how often they paid at the contracted rate and other measures.

Medicare outperformed commercial insurers in many areas, and some insurers paid physicians' bills better than others!