Talking points
Failure to stop the nearly 30 percent Medicare SGR cut will cause physicians to reduce staff and patients, stop taking Medicare patients or close their doors altogether. It will cause drastic access problems for seniors and military families who need a doctor.
There is wide bipartisan agreement in Congress that the physician payment system is broken and a 27.4 percent physician payment cut on January 1, 2012, would have a devastating impact on seniors’ access to care.
Physicians are the foundation and front line of the Medicare program.
Physician payments already lag 20 percent behind Medicare’s index of medical inflation.
Medicare payments have not kept pace with the cost of running a medical practice. Therefore, physicians are already working under thin financial margins. If Medicare payment cuts occur, physicians will eventually be forced to reduce access or stop participating in the Medicare program altogether. Physicians could be forced to lay off staff and won’t be able to make investments in their practices, such as electronic health records. Moreover, California’s private health plan payment rates are heavily influenced by Medicare, so a Medicare payment cut will harm access to physicians in the private sector as well as Medicare.
A joint CMA-County Medical Society survey shows that if the Medicare SGR cuts occur:
· Seventy-two percent of California physicians will REDUCE the number of NEW Medicare patients or STOP ACCEPTING NEW Medicare patients.
· Fifty-five percent of California physicians will REDUCE the number of EXISTING Medicare patients or STOP SEEING Medicare patients altogether.
There are real physician shortages in California already. Failing to address the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement problems will compound these shortages.
· California’s primary care physician-patient ratios are among the lowest in the nation.
· California’s physicians are dramatically aging. More than half are over the age of 50—when most physicians start reducing their patient care activities.
· California is not training or attracting enough new physicians to meet the demands.
· California has 4.7 million Medicare patients and nearly 900,000 TriCare patients.
· Prior to the passage of federal health care reform, the University of California projected that the growth in physician demand would outpace physician supply by 20 percent in a few years. As five million Californians gain insurance coverage and the baby boomers enter Medicare, the demand for physicians will swell. Without stable Medicare payment reform, finding a doctor in California will become extremely difficult.
Physicians are important employers, crucial to the California economy
· Physicians employ more than 500,000 people in California and are substantial contributors to the local, state and federal tax base. Maintaining appropriate, stable Medicare rates keeps physicians in practice and prevents further unemployment and economic erosion.
· If physicians are forced to cut back or close their doors, not only will patient care be negatively impacted, but the California economy will be as well. Physician practices are important employers in their communities. A recent report, “The Economic Impact of Office-Based Physicians in California,” prepared by the Lewin Group, shows that office-based physicians are a critical component of the health care system, fundamentally assuring the health of the communities in which they practice.
· Moreover, physicians also play a vital role in the state and local economies by creating jobs, purchasing goods and services, and supporting state and community public programs through the tax revenues they create and the charity care they provide.
In 2009, California office-based physicians:
· Created a total of $137.5 billion in revenue.
· Supported 458,397 jobs.
· On average supported 5.8 jobs each.
· Contributed $106.3 billion in wages and benefits for employees.
· On average supported $1,355,894 in total wages and benefits each.
· Supported $7,215.5 million in local and state tax revenues.