Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHoYSI84VdL0

Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients

By David Olmos

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

More than 3,000 patients eligible for Medicare, the government’s largest health-insurance program, will be forced to pay cash if they want to continue seeing their doctors at a Mayo family clinic in Glendale, northwest of Phoenix, said Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman. The decision, which Yardley called a two-year pilot project, won’t affect other Mayo facilities in Arizona, Florida and Minnesota.

Obama in June cited the nonprofit Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio for offering “the highest quality care at costs well below the national norm.”

 

health care rationing begins.

 

Althouth the "Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services" has planned to phase in most cuts over four years, it has already cut the fee for nuclear stress imaging by over 36%.

This hovers close to the cost of performing the procedure.
Costs for equipment and staff continue to climb
Physicians have to make the choice to practice medicine (at a loss) or leave the profession.

We are going to see some major shifts in the way health care is delivered over these next few years.

It's politically convient that the heavy costs of all these programs that congress is planning will not be felt until the next President is in office.

Rob

 

If the Rs had any guts at all, they could repeal this monstrosity of legislation as soon as they regain control of the gov't - which could be '10, '12 - or never!

But I have very strong doubts that, should this grand takeover emerge a law in the end, that they (Rs) will have the brass appendages to perform a truly needed abortion on this garbage.

 

A private business decides not to take a particular insurance and that's rationing huh? You know I have insurance through Aetna and there are many doctors and clinics that don't accept Aetna. Is that rationing as well?

What you've just seen is capitalism at work. It's a good thing, at least for those of us that don't like government intervention.

 

From the article: "A Medicare patient who chooses to stay at Mayo’s Glendale clinic will pay about $1,500 a year for an annual physical and three other doctor visits".

How much time is this for a doctor - an hour in total? $1,500 an hour????

 

Why are you complaining?

The savior you helped put in the White House has already praised the Mayo Clinic for it's delivery of low cost medical care.

 

Not yet.

But if they're losing money on Medicare now, wait till Obama's 20% cuts kick in.

Clinics and doctors all across the country will be dropping Medicare patients like crazy. The sooner they die, the less we'll have to spend on them, right?

Love those democrats. They're really taking care of the elderly.:rolleyes:

 

Part of the plan of the New World Order is to reduce the world population by about 80%.

 

My Savior is God and He does not physically live in the White House.

 

They can be praised all anyone wants but I don't agree with the praise if doctors are making $1,500 per hour.

 

Your savior (little s) occupies the white house. You must feel like such a fool.:tonofbricks:

 

Still a liberal progressive, eh ?

A supporter of a free market system wouldn't complain. A doctor should charge what people are willing to pay. I imagine a MAYO clinic doctor has a high overhead, and outrageous liability.

 

Shhhh....ush!

Not supposed to mention "liability". Everyone knows lawsuits have no effect on the cost of healthcare.

If it did, it would have been addressed in the pending legislation. :BangHead:

 

But Carpro, Obamessiah promised to end lobbyist influence. Surely the ambulance chasers have no political pull in this, the most transparent presidency ever. It's just gotstabee those greedy doctors.

 

Libbies often lie about hating big business. They only hate it when they cannot control it. They love it when they do.

 

Barack Obama may be a savior(little s) in your eyes, but he sure ain't in mine. No warmongering globalist is.

 

I disagree. We have the free speech right to complain in the United States. It's when people foolishly want their complaints enacted into law that the problems start.

 

You voted for him. You own him.

 

Ge used to it. I have a good friend who is a physician and has one of the largest family practices in this area. He's told me that if Oba-mao's health insurance scam goes through, you're going to see a lot of doctors go to either cash only practices or just flat out refusing to accept government health insurance.

According to him, this is a really big issue among doctors right now.