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Medicare Meltdown Action Center

Keywords: Medicare  

Sign Petition to Save Medicare

Doctors want to take care of Medicare patients.Congress is forcing doctors to limit the number of Medicare patients we see or to quit taking Medicare patients altogether. Sign the petition to "Stop the Medicare Meltdown."

Read the Medicare Meltdown: Today's Reality 

Congress recently enacted legislation with the goal of providing better health care access for most Americans. Many of the provisions of the new health reforms are predicated on the sustainability and effectiveness of Medicare.

TMA President Sue Bailey, MD, exhorts all Texas physicians to sign and share the petition to Stop the Medicare Meltdown. We need 1 million signatures by May 31, 2010.

Statement of the State and Specialty Medical Societies on the Medicare Physician Payment Crisis

Congressional mismanagement of the Medicare program (PDF) will force more physicians to stop accepting new Medicare and TRICARE patients; lay-off staff; and defer investment in new medical equipment, health information technology, and other innovations that improve patient care.

Stop the Medicare Meltdown

A guest column by TMA President William H. Fleming III, MD, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

So we have this new health law that’s intended to provide better health care access for most Americans. Many of the reforms rely upon the sustainability and effectiveness of Medicare.

Medicare, however, is doomed to failure unless Congress fixes a fundamental problem existing within the current program — the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The new health law ignored it. Now Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are sending physicians and patients on a daunting roller coaster ride — with no end in sight.

TMA Launches Million-Signature Campaign to Stop the Medicare Meltdown

A confluence of events in Washington is pushing TMA to increase the volume of our work to enact a permanent fix to the Medicare payment formula. Despite their professed support for a new Medicare payment system for physicians, senators and representatives from both parties have done nothing to fix the formula that threatens to bankrupt physicians and leave Medicare patients without a doctor. For 10 years, they’ve done nothing to fix the single largest government health program. How can they build a new system on a broken foundation?

To educate patients on Medicare’s problems and engage all Texans in the drive to fix them, we are embarking on a campaign to gather 1 million signatures to stop the Medicare Meltdown. We begin with an open letter to Congress (PDF), which we will deliver to members of the Texas congressional delegation in April at news conferences across the state. You can use the online Stop the Medicare Meltdown petition to send to your friends and family. Or download, "Ask Congress to Keep Doctors for Medicare Patients" (PDF) and post in your waiting rooms. Look for more to come.

Medicare Meltdown Media Kit

  1. News Release- "Physicians, Patients Launch Medicare Petition Drive to Congress"
  2. "Ask Congress to Keep Doctors for Medicare Patients" (offered in color or black and white, PDF) 
  3. Medicare Meltdown Petition (PDF)
  4. Physician Poster-"Ask Congress to Keep Doctors for Medicare Patients"  
  5. Open Letter to Congress 
  6. Before and After June 1, 2010 Medicare Cuts 
  7. Comparative Fee Updates for Medicare Providers
  8. Caring for Patients in a Time of Change

Congress Turns Its Back on Medicare Patients Again

"The actions of Congress toward Medicare patients are appalling. First, Congress left town for its “Spring Break,” allowing a 21.2-percent cut to physician payments on April 1 — leaving millions of Medicare patients in limbo about their care. As a result, today the 21.2-percent cut goes into effect."-William H. Fleming III, MD, president of the Texas Medical Association. More... (April 15, 2010)

Four Things You Can Do Right Now

  1. Use the TMA Grassroots Action Center today to send a strong message to Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and your U.S. representative. Tell them to oppose the health system reform bill in the House and begin work immediately on a permanent replacement of the Medicare payment formula.
  2. Sign TMA’s online Stop the Medicare Meltdown petition and encourage your colleagues, friends, family, and neighbors to do the same.
  3. Sign TMA’s open letter to Congress (PDF) and fax it to the TMA Public Affairs Division at (512) 370-1633.
  4. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Here is how to submit a letter to the editor of your local newspaper (click on your paper's name and follow the link to Letters to the Editor)
Engage Patients
  1. Post the "Ask Congress to Keep Doctors for Medicare Patients" (offered in color or black and white, PDF) in your waiting areas.
  2. Ask Congress to Keep Doctors for Medicare Patients Poster (PDF)
  3. TMA talking points to use when talking to your patients
    - Download an easy-print file (PDF)
  4. Office flyer
  5. Sample "Dear patient" letter
    - (Download a Microsoft Word document to edit)
  6. MeAndMyDoctor.com - Web site where patients can learn more and write their own letters to Congress
News Coverage
Opinion Articles
Social Networks

 

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Last Published: 8/20/2010

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