Groups warn of 21 percent cut in Medicare, Tricare payments

The 21% Medicare cuts have nothing to do with the Democrats. The number was set in the Bush administration and reflects a law passed (the Medicare Modernization act of 2004) which forces some budgetary restraint. Each year for the last five years Congress has refused to allow the cuts to go through but now the number has escalated to 21%. The government is trying to fund Medicare on the backs of the doctors and we (I'm a doctor) won't stand for it. DON'T BLAME OBAMACARE. IT IS YOUR SORT OF SCURRILOUS CHARACTER ASSASSINATION THAT HAS MADE IT DIFFICULT TO PASS MEANINGFUL HEALTH CARE REFORM.

that didn't come from you when the uninsured working in this country were hoping for healthcare. Compassion? If cutting my taxes means military dependents and the elderly have to pay for their care so be it. I'm done with only some getting benefits. And if the military doesn't like it then they can get out and try to find it on the market like the rest of us.

And I say that as a veteran. Compassion? Hah. Only comes when who you care about starts to lose their bennies. Military medical should only cover active duty and those wounded in wartime actions. Let them buy insurance for their families like the rest of us.

There are millions of people working at or close to minimum wag jobs that don't offer insurance or that don't pay enough for the employee to afford $1,000 or more for private insurance.

The average cost of a personal health plan in the United States is $1,300 a month. If you're employed and paying less than that, or if you're retired and paying less, it's because your employer or former employer is subsidizing your cost. Most people have no idea what the real cost of their healthcare is.

Many military spouses have jobs. I have a job, or rather a career. And I work hard to educate the children, who on average, come from parents who would prefer to stay on public assistance rather than GET a job. My husband is military, and HE works hard to support and protect this country so that the idiot who sits on the throne in Washington, can wreak havoc on the hard-working masses. My grandfather retired as a colonel from the army. Having the benefit of health care coverage is the absolute LEAST the government can do to show its appreciation for the fact that my family is separated for 6 of every 18 months, and that our lives are put on hold for any potential threat to national security. Can we please just get rid of the donkeys in control??

To clear the air, doctors can charge whatever they want. Under the terms of participating in Medicare, however, doctors have to accept the Medicare fee schedule. Doctors cannot pass the cost of higher expenses to their patients. There is no mechanism to do this. Private insurance works the same way. A doctor needs to be credentialed by an insurance company to see their patient. He cannot negotiate fees...or more properly, he can try but it won't work.

In a public health system, that's how it works. Doctors are salaried and don't have to worry about anything but delivering health care to patients. It's when you turn them into small businesses that things get carried away. Study after study shows that health care costs increase dramatically in places where doctors own not only their own practices, but also the local labs, testing facilities, rehab and other related businesses.

Although on the one hand a lot of my friends who are doctors say they like being able to be in charge of their own business--and who wouldn't?--most also say they wish they could just concentrate on treating patients and not have to worry about business management, insurance processing, malpractice insurance costs, etc.

We do (and should) price shop but stores are free to charge what they will and we are free to shop where we will. You are advocating that the stores must sell at a government mandated price - that is a whole different thing.

If you had a store you would need to sell at a price that would cover all your costs plus provide a reasonable profit. If the government mandated a lower price for certain customers you would (and should) refuse to serve those customers. If you disagree, please open a store that sells things I need. I'll tell you the price at which you must sell to me, even if you lose money on every sale.

And to those who claim that the insurance compnies are raking in obscene profits have been listening to politicians' lies and not looking at their actual profitability which hasn't been great.