Medical reimbursement regulation

My husband and I are both in health care. People in our arena(privately owned outpatient Imaging and Lab centers) condemn democrats for the reason they are suffering. Bush is the one who implemented the cutbacks on Medicare’s reimbursements for private outpatient settings. DUH. From what we understand , next year, this will apply to the Hospital setting as well. So there are going to be changes that can adversely affect how well this business does, and then how it will affect the employees who provide these services, and the patients needing them, regardless of where they are provided.

Now we are hearing from our colleagues, wait if Obama gets in, all of us in the outpatient setting will be forced out of jobs.

Does anyone have any info on McCain’s stance , most specifically, reimbursement for services provided?

for one thing.

McCain wants to give everybody a $5,000 tax credit to go buy insurance on the open market. The problem is, most policies cost way more than that, and double it is more normal. I think with McCain's plan you're going to see more people dropping out of insurance plans in addition to the 47 million who are uninsured already. McCain is a kept man, has been for years, and doesn't really know what things like insurance really cost.

In short, McCain is going to hurry your lab into the ground by forcing you to care for more people who will have no insurance.

Obama, by contrast, wants to close insurance loopholes like pre-existing conditions and high deductables that make getting insurance such a hurdle in the first place. He wants the insurance companies to conduct business more ethically and humanely.

He not only wants to give everyone a $5,000.00 tax break, he then wants to tax the amount that employers contribute for employees health insurance as income for the employees.. AND he intends to pay for the tax break with cuts in medicare...

:-)

That 5K, every time I see him trying to sell that stinker, I think McCain really thinks that's some *generous* healthcare allowance.

:spray: :rofl:

so he is going to try and cut back MC reimbursement? do you have any links?

It's $2,500 for individuals.

That will get our family about 4-5 months of insurance. Then no one can get sick or hurt thereafter.

I am just wondering what would happen if the republicans deregulate how MC pays claims? Maybe just keep their noses out of it all and let the doctors charge what they want, as they charge you upfront and tell you to send in your own claim for reimbursement IF you have insurance.

McCain would handle disbursements any differently than they do now.

Not only that, he's drug out that old GOP canard that the Gov't spends too much. That GOP code speak for "we don't want to spend money for anything but the Defense Dept." So I see disbursements either stagnating (falling in actual dollar value due to inflation) or becoming even smaller to pay for his "tax cuts."

confusing sometimes...it seems people stand for what is important to their own agenda, whether it be fair or not. I tend to care about what happens to people on a whole, as long as it's fair.

MEDICAID AND MEDICARE: Reforming The Payment System To Cut Costs. We must reform the payment systems in Medicaid and Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention and care coordination. Medicaid and Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.

Sounds like he'd be docking you guys if you made a mistake. :shrug:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm

you reform the system to compensate the providers, in my mind that means you would have to increase reimbursement rates.

I feel he's going to decrease payments to providers.

Think about it this way:

Would you rather have more people walking through your door, able to use the system, and knowing that you would be paid, without having to fight the insurance companies for every little jot and tittle on a diagnostic sheet?

Or would you rather get higher amounts from a smaller, more affluent portion of the public?

First I need to clear up...

"Would you rather have more people walking through your door, able to use the system, and knowing that you would be paid, without having to fight the insurance companies for every little jot and tittle on a diagnostic sheet? "

Obama


"Or would you rather get higher amounts from a smaller, more affluent portion of the public?"

McCain

;-)

This is why this all is so crazy to me. Why would most doctors support McCain? Makes no sense. Why would anyone else who is not affluent favor policies that cater to such elite groups???

of Republican doublespeak which appeals to rich folks and at the same time soothes the masses with talk about "family values," and appeals to cheap patriotism.

I've known lots of docs as a patient and as a medical office worker. Some of them were shockingly ruthless about *why* they went to medical school and it didn't have much to do with helping people or just being a really good science geek. Mercifully, they were rare. Most really did want to help people and really were into the science of it all. Those are the folks I look for to care for me. :-)

I don't know any in the medical field now who seriously think it would still be a good idea to continue as we are.

Have you seen this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs

I know my liberal sister married to a doctor supports McCant.

Most of the specialists and surgeons I know (who probably make more than $250,000/yr) support Obama, while most of the Generalists and Family Practitioners who probably make half that support McCain. Go figure.

Government healthcare expenditures are currently budget neutral. To check the rapidly rising costs they set it up so that if usage rises, providers all get paid a little less.

It appears that Obama's goal is to increase healthcare availability (and presumably, usage). If he does that without providing additional revenue for the increased utilization and to relieve the pressure that has already built up among providers, then, it is possible that even more healthcare professionals will "retire" early. If that happens, some jobs among physician support staff may be lost, but there will be pressure to fill the vacuum and it seems reasonable that other healthcare employees will be needed to do even more.

McCain is probably just "business as usual", which, in the long run, is the same.

At the state level, neither Republicans nor Democrats have been responsive to the growing reimbursement issues. Therefore, expect yet another "crisis" in the future