TMA and local physician visit Congress to discuss broken healthcare system

by Stephanie Parker

Stephen L. Hines, M.D., went to Capitol Hill last week with the Texas Medical Association (TMA) and other Texas physicians to encourage Congress to make changes to Medicare. There is a 10.5% physician pay cut planned for July 2008 that will negatively impact physicians and Medicare patients.

Medicare serves over 44 million people but is quickly losing the support of health care practitioners nationwide. Dr. Hines explains that physicians make approximately sixty cents for every dollar spent on Medicare patients. It is difficult for physicians to support their practice and keep up with the cost of living when they are "operating at a deficit."

As a result of this deficit, physicians are limiting the number of Medicare patients they see. The TMA surveyed a random sample of 10,000 Texas physicians and found that one-third of them are accepting fewer Medicare patients and 45% are considering not accepting any new Medicare patients. Only 58.1% currently accept Medicare patients, an all time low.

Cutting back on Medicare patients is a last resort for most doctors. "Doctors don't like to think in dollars and cents," says Dr. Hines. "We don't want to turn away a sick person. We are very relationship oriented."

Dr. Hines explains that the Medicare system not only affects current doctors but also future doctors. He teaches many graduate students at Methodist Dallas Medical Center who are unenthusiastic about going into primary care positions because they are key Medicare providers. Dr. Hines shared the experiences of his graduate students with Congress, who agreed that Medicare does need to see change.

What many people don't realize is that "congressman and senators really do pay attention to constituent concerns," says Dr. Hines. He encourages everyone to get involved with local medical organizations like TMA. "This experience opened my eyes - these organizations really do lobby and work hard for you."