The ACC recommends three completely self-serving limitations regarding the proposed cuts to Medicare/Medicaid:
- Permanent reform of the Medicare physician payment system (The current Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula calls for massive cuts of 29.5 percent on Jan. 1, 2012.).
- Inclusion of medical liability reforms in any final committee recommendations.
- Avoidance of further medical imaging payment cuts as an offset in any final recommendations.
The single biggest group expense in the Medicaid budget is? Physician salaries. What a surprise. And the single biggest line-item expense? the incredibly over-prescribed use of Imaging! (CT, MRI, etc). One of the highest paid subgroups of physicians? What a coincidence, it is cardiologists.
This is the type of self-serving lobbying that is killing our economy. I HATE the very existence of lobbyists. I wish the Super Committee would propose a complete phase-out plan for the entire sector!
Having said all this I do agree in the proposed liability tort reform issue. But expecting lawyers (did you know that 100% of congress have law degrees?) to limit litigation opportunities (can you say cha-ching) is akin to expecting the Cubs to win another world series.
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