With Obama cutting $400B from Medicare/Medicaid in his last budget and targeting $300B more in Medicare and Medicaid cuts in his 2011/12 budget, we often hear this bad policy defended as the cuts coming out of "waste, fraud and abuse" when in fact it comes out of nurses pay, hours and job duties all the detriment of nurse's health and patient health.
Though finances differ, all hospitals face cuts in Medicaid and Medicare and uncertainty over budgets under new payment models.
We see the same cost of Obama's Medicare/Medicaid cuts with individual doctor practices where primary care physicians cannot afford to see Medicare patients due to the Medicare reimbursement cuts.
WASHINGTON — The number of doctors refusing new Medicare patients because of low government payment rates.
Obama refuses to honestly discuss Medicare/Medicaid issues. The real need is for higher Medicare/Medicaid income by applying Medicare tax to all income, not just payroll and having progressive tax rates.
Remibursement has to cover real health care provider costs vs. the Obama/GOP lie that the $1T in current cuts, like the $5T in previous Medicare/Medicaid cuts some out of "waste, fraud and abuse". It is a lie. The cuts come out of the health care services and wallets of older Americans who are as bankrupted by Medicare as by private insurance.
We see the effect of the Obama/GOP Medicare cuts in the nurse's strikes in NY and CA, where the cost of the cuts is passed on to the nursing staff who must take on more patients putting patient safety, patient health and the nurses own health at risk to pay for the Medicare/Medicaid funding cuts.