I’m not a doctor. But I play the MDW (medical doctor’s wife) role now and then. Usually this fact doesn’t even come up, because when it does I have seen the change come over a person’s face. There is a slight leaning toward deferential, there is a wall erected, it gets in the way of things. One consequence of the MDW degree (and now the MDM, medical doctor’s mom) is that over the years, other people view me as having more medical knowledge in general, which is not true. I may be able to say “Homonomoushemianopsia” but it doesn’t mean I know all there is to know about it.
One thing I do know about is how intransigent this Congress has been, and I heard Bob say recently that Medicare reimbursement is taking a big hit in January. Then I heard that my brother’s primary care doctor stopped taking Medicare patients. So I set out to investigate. Now let’s just assume because it’s true, that ER physicians are a separate breed altogether. They donate almost 30% of their work to the poor. Overall, almost a third of patients who end up in the ER don’t have any insurance and are indigent. Can you think of any other business that writes off a third of their work? Emergency Medicine docs are the social safety net of our society.
But a Family Practice or Primary Care doc, he/she has spent the same amount of time being educated: 4 years of college, 4 years of med school, 3 years of residency and sometimes more when they get another fellowship. And now they are being asked to take a pay cut of 27% from Medicare. Around $168,000 is the average salary of your PC doc. A doctor’s income in a private practice is:
A – plus, what he/she takes in (payments)
B – minus expenses or overhead (staff, office space, electricity, malpractice, equipment).
Overhead runs on average 60% of a doc’s practice to about $259,000. It’s guns and butter, pretty basic economics. They are being asked to take a 65% cut in their salary because while their Medicare payments shrink by 27% their overhead costs will stay the same, or go up.
Are you still with me? If so, please consider letting your legislators know this has to come up for a vote before the holidays. http://capwiz.com/usdr/issues/alert/?alertid=57348501&queueid=%5Bcapwiz%3Aqueue_id%5D
MountainMornings 