No Bill For You

The AMA got in bed with the Obama administration in order to get a bill passed stopping the cuts in the Medicare payment formula. We go through this crap every year and usually Congress delays these cuts at the 11th hour. This time there was a bill voted on that was separate from the whole healthcare reform bill going up for vote in the next.....well....who knows. This separate bill would have delayed the Medicare cuts for another 10 years and would not count as part of the overall debt for the later healthcare reform bill (as to why I have no idea). Anyway, it doesn't matter as the bill failed and we doctors lose. That doesn't mean something won't pass later on to stop these cuts but this whole process is just getting crazy. Hey AMA, you sold out for this to pass and now that it hasn't how about finding a backbone and demanding some tort reform? I know many a doctor who thinks we all should just drop Medicare and start over by taking cash only. That idea gets more tempting by the day.