 merrie says: cardiology and 19% on radiation oncology. They’re targets only because of cost: Two-thirds of morbidity or mortality among Medicare patients owes to cancer or heart disease. … Cancer doctors get hit because the Administration believes specialists order too many MRIs and CT scans. Certain kinds of diagnostic imaging lose 24% under new assumptions that machines are in use 90% of the time, up from 50%. There isn’t a radiologist in America running an MRI 10.8 hours out of 12, unless he’s lining up patients on a conveyor belt. But claiming scanners are used far more often than they really are lets the Administration “score” spending cuts. It’s like doling out healthcare by mimicking progressive income taxation; tax the haves into oblivion so eventually all can go without. And this change is applied to all expensive equipment, not just MRIs and CTs, so payments for antitumor radiation therapy will fall by up to 44%. The American Society for Radiation Oncology says it “will have a devastating effect on cancer patients’ access to care.” So much for stimulating the economy, a veritable Democrat religion. One priority of the Baucus bill is to require the executive branch to wreak this kind of devastation every year, not just when a Democrat is President. I won’t quote more, but this is a sobering piece worth a Read The Whole Thing. Think of the Democrat’s next big thing as the mortal equivalent of making the “rich” pay their fair share, something that for progressives, killing the host is never too much to ask. [url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574443472658898710.html#a... One priority of the Baucus bill is to require the executive branch to wreak this kind of devastation every year, not just when a Democrat is President. It directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to search out "potentially misvalued" RVUs, meaning those "for which there has been the fastest growth" or "that have experienced substantial changes in practice expenses." In other words, any specialty that grows too much must be targeted. It's important to understand that these are "cuts" that don't actually cut any spending; the RVUs merely redistribute it from one medical bucket to another. In this case, Team Obama is sending a message to the medical community about i[b]... |
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