As part of ARRA and Healthcare Reform, physicians have been promised an increase of 1-2% increases in Medicare and Medicaid payments to defray the cost of purchasing and implementing electronic medical systems at their office or health facility until $44,000 has been covered over a five year period.
What most people are totally unaware of is that Physicians Face 21.5% Medicare Payment Cuts starting on March 1. If Congress does not fix this issue, the decrease which was originally set for January 1 takes effect on March 1.
If you think that you are not affected as a non-participating Medicare physician, think again. Private insurers often adjust their rates to mimic those on the Medicare schedule.
The issue affects the 30,000 ob-gyns who participate in Medicare.
Governmental actions such as these reflect the problems that a government takeover of healthcare represents. It also highly suggests that despite living in a capitalistic society, the government is trying to do away with private practice which limits the type of healthcare options that the public will face.
If the government is sincere about wanting paperless healthcare, then enticements to doctors must be real support and not a giving with one hand and taking away (massively) with the other.
