For Immediate Release
Oct. 11, 2010
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Contact: Pam Udall
phone: (512) 370-1382
cell: (512) 413-6807
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Brent Annear
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cell: (512) 656-7320
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Lone Star State Deemed a Medicare “Access Hot Spot” – Along With Nearly Half of the U.S.
A new report from the American Medical Association (AMA) backs what Texas physicians have been saying: Texas seniors and other Medicare patients have a tougher time finding a physician to care for them.
Because of what the Texas Medical Association (TMA) calls the “Medicare Meltdown,” senior citizens and people with disabilities who rely on Medicare and military families insured by Tricare have fewer and fewer physicians available to care for them. Doctors say Medicare is forcing physicians out of the program.
The Texas problem is so dire that the AMA report designates Texas an “Access Hot Spot,” indicating Medicare patients already have trouble finding physicians. A recent TMA survey bears that out: More than one-third of Texas physicians say they already have to limit the number of new Medicare patients they see. But Texas shares the dubious spotlight, as 20 other states (including the District of Columbia) earned the “Access Hot Spot” label.
The AMA report says 40 percent of the state’s Medicare patients live below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. If these Medicare patients cannot find a doctor who can treat them, they cannot afford to pay for care themselves. Even if they qualify for Medicaid, the health insurance for low-income people, few physicians accept new Medicaid patients.
Yet finding a doctor is a challenge for many Texans regardless of income − nearly one in eight Texans live in a primary care shortage area.
“How many ways can we say it? The situation is dire for our patients, and this report shows it’s getting worse,” said Susan R. Bailey, MD, TMA’s president. “Congress has known about the problem for a decade but refused to fix it. The inability to fix Medicare harms patients and physician practices alike.”
The problem is a flawed funding formula called the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), which determines physicians’ pay for caring for Medicare patients. Only emergency congressional intervention will stop a 23-percent physician payment cut scheduled to hit on Dec. 1, which surges to 30 percent on Jan. 1. Doctors already faced four double-digit cuts this year alone, part of an annual pattern that has plagued medicine – and the doctors’ patients – for a decade.
The recently-passed national Health System Reform did not address the Medicare funding problem.
Not only do looming Medicare cuts mean patients face greater difficulties, AMA says the physician pool is drying up: Forty-one percent of practicing physicians in Texas are over 50, the age at which many physicians consider reducing how many patients they see. That bodes poorly for Texas’ nearly 2.9 million Medicare patients, and more than 86,000 military families insured by Tricare.
In the spring, TMA launched its “Stop the Medicare Meltdown” petition drive. All 50 states joined Texans in the effort to get Congress to replace the SGR with a reasonable, stable Medicare funding formula (video). The drive continues at www.MeAndMyDoctor.com, where thousands of people have signed the petition.
TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing nearly 45,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 120 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.
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