Doctors begin TV ads pressing Congress on Medicare

Breitbart ^ | 10/15/08 | Alan Fram

[Rotten Stinking Moderate]

The American Medical Association is launching a coast-to-coast TV ad campaign to press Congress to approve higher payments for doctors treating Medicare patients. The doctors group announced the ads Thursday, a day after Democrats agreed to push a $247 billion bill through the Senate next week averting scheduled cuts in physicians' Medicare fees over the next decade. A 21 percent reduction is scheduled for January, with other cuts in subsequent years.

[Rotten Stinking Moderate]

This is hilarious. If Obama were actually trying to make private insurance cheaper for the businesses that insure their employees and people who buy policies on the individual market, the first thing he would do is increase payments to doctors for state/federal funded health care programs like Medicare, medicaid, MediCal(CA), etc. Those programs underpay doctors by a significant amount and private insurance pays higher contracted rates because of it.

Instead, he is looking to cut the medicare reimbursements which will again push up costs in the private market. Gee, I wonder why private insurance keeps getting more expensive.

[KarlInOhio]

With the deals the AMA is begging to cut with Obama, I figure that the organization;s head must be Dr. Faust.