More Texas doctors opting out of Medicare

In what is now an established trend, Texas doctors frustrated with declining Medicare reimbursement continued to drop out of the government-funded program for seniors at a rapid rate in 2011, according to new data.

A total of 164 doctors formally opted out of the program last year, the fourth straight year the numbers have been in triple figures. Before 2007, a handful ended involvement with the program each year.

"I'm not surprised - that's just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Bruce Malone, president of the Texas Medical Association, which represents about 45,000 doctors and medical students. "Things are going to get worse before they get better."

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Doctors' Medicare reimbursement has been cut about 20 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars since 2001, according to the TMA. Drastic reductions have been scheduled most years - a 32 percent cut is due at the end of 2012 - but Congress has always postponed the cuts, typically at the 11th hour, and instead kept payments flat.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/More-Texas-doctors-opting-out-of-Medicare-3395792.php