The current relationship of the medical profession to Medicare may remind some of the old Henny Youngman joke:
“I just saw my doctor, and he told me I have only six months to live. I told him I couldn”™t pay him, so he gave me another six months.”
Doctors may just have to extend the life expectancy of their patients ”“ or at least, their fee schedules ”“ in the future. The one thing they may not be doing is accepting Medicare patients.
According to the American Medical Association”™s new online survey of more than 9,000 physicians nationwide who treat Medicare patients, almost one-third (31 percent) of primary care doctors and 17 percent of doctors in general are restricting the number of Medicare patients they take.
The overwhelming reason for this is that Medicare reimbursements are too low ”“ down 21 percent. And the prospect of future cuts makes Medicare an unreliable player.
“The reimbursement is so low that it”™s lower than the cost of doing business,” said Dr. Andrew Y. Kleinman, a plastic surgeon whose office is in Rye Brook. “It”™s absolutely outrageous.”
Kleinman ”“ past president of the Westchester County Medical Society and assistant treasurer of The Medical Society of the State of New York ”“ is among those doctors who are no longer taking new Medicare patients.
“A lot of doctors I know are no longer doing this,” he said.
Others like Dr. Ezriel E. Kornel, a partner in Brain and Spine Surgeons of New York in White Plains, have opted out of Medicare altogether.
“I”™ve not been a participant in Medicare in three years,” says Kornel, host of “Back Talk Live” on WOR-710 AM at 7:30 p.m. Sundays. “Medicare was less than 5 percent of my income but 25 percent of my work.”
In a CNN segment on this subject, Kornel says he received $1,187.10 for an operation in which he had to open up a patient”™s spine and neck.
“I”™ve gotten bigger bills from my plumber,” he says in the spot, now a You Tube video.
As a result, Kornel says he chose to opt out rather than give the dishonest impression that Medicare was covering his expenses and even, enabling him to make a living. Now he sets his fees based on patients”™ ability to pay.
Both he and Kleinman think that with Medicare reimbursements dwindling and health care reform set to kick in, more patients will be choosing to pay for doctor visits and surgery since Medicare covers hospitalization.
“There may be a whole new type of insurance,” Kornel said.
