Bush Administration: Cut Doctors’ Medicare Fees, Not Insurance Company Profits

Bush Administration: Cut Doctors’ Medicare Fees, Not Insurance Company Profits

by James Parks, Jun 3, 2008

From day one, the Bush administration’s Medicare plan has favored the profits of big insurance companies over the needs of seniors. Here’s the latest example: The Bush administration is threatening to veto any legislation that protects doctors’ Medicare payments at the expense of private insurers, according to the Associated Press.  

Beginning July 1, reimbursement rates for doctors will drop 10.6 percent when they treat older and disabled patients who use Medicare, which would discourage doctors from treating our most vulnerable citizens—seniors who need Medicare to afford to see a doctor—in favor of sustaining the record profits enjoyed by big insurance companies.  

Congress is working to prevent this travesty by finding at least $9 billion in savings from other Medicare programs over the next five years. At the top of the savings list are the generous subsidies that large insurance companies receive to operate the privatized Medicare Advantage program. But the Bush White House has threatened to veto any bill that cuts the payments to big insurers, which are estimated to reach $150 billion over the next 10 years.