Letters To The Editor Respond To Article About Declining Numbers Of Physicians Who Treat Medicaid Beneficiaries

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 31 Jul 2007 - 20:00 PST

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The Wall Street Journal on Friday published two letters to the editor in response to a July 19 article about Medicaid. In the article, the Journal reported that many state Medicaid programs, "straining under surging costs, are balancing their budgets by freezing or reducing payments to doctors" -- moves that have prompted a number of physicians to end participation in the programs (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/19). Summaries of the letters appear below.

• Rashi Fein: The difference in physician reimbursements under Medicare and Medicaid by the same government "is shocking," but "these differences existed from the first days" of the programs, Fein, a professor of the economics of medicine at Harvard Medical School, writes in a Journal letter to the editor. He adds, "[I]t is also shocking that so few physicians will see Medicaid patients, given that these physicians were more than willing to accept and be the beneficiaries of the large subsidy by government to their medical education." Fein recommends that "each person entering medical school be given a choice" to accept the subsidy and "agree to treat all patients who need your help" or not accept the subsidy and "be free to choose your patients as you see fit" (Fein, Wall Street Journal, 7/27).
  
  
• Edward Langston: "Congress must take immediate action" to reverse a scheduled 10% reduction to Medicare physician reimbursements in 2008 and "update physicians' payments in line with medical practice cost increases," Langston, chair of the American Medical Association board, writes in a Journal letter to the editor. Langston writes that "eliminating hefty overpayments to insurance companies that offer Medicare Advantage plans ... will amount to a $65 billion savings, which can be used to shore up Medicare's physician foundation and preserve seniors' access to health care." He concludes that, without congressional action to reverse the reduction, "access to care under Medicare will begin to look frighteningly like Medicaid" (Langston, Wall Street Journal, 7/27).
  

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.