Doctors Up Against Medicare and Medicaid Pay Cuts

In 2015, it will become increasingly more difficult for Medicare and Medicaid patients to see a doctor.  According to the Department of Health and Human Services, doctors who still accept Medicare patients could see an average reduction of 21.2 percent in Medicare reimbursement rates.  Furthermore, Medicaid physicians taking Medicaid patients could see an average reduction of 42.8 percent. 

Not only could doctors be in for a bruising this financial year, patients (both seniors and the poor) may not be able to find a doctor who will take them. 

Now that Republicans are in charge, they will likely want to offset the additional cost of the “doc fix” with other budget cuts.  On the other hand, Republicans might attach the doc fix to legislation they do not want, which would limit some of the Environmental Protection Agency’s overreaches, or rolling back part of President Obama’s amnesty executive order.  While there will be bipartisan support for some type of doc fix, it could get bogged down in legislative maneuvers.

See Merrill Matthews, Doctors Face A Huge Medicare And Medicaid Pay Cut In 2015, Forbes, Jan. 5, 2015.