| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Rachel Maddow Blog
Sequestration takes a toll on cancer patients, Medicare
By Steve Benen -
Fri Apr 5, 2013 11:11 AM EDT.
A funny thing happened on Rush Limbaugh's radio show yesterday. The Republican host was complaining about a Washington Post report on sequestration cuts hurting cancer patients in the Medicare program, and told his listeners to ignore the news. "All of this is manufactured and made up," Limbaugh said. How does he know? Because the sequester didn't include "any cuts in Medicare," he added.
And then Limbaugh got a call from a conservative oncologist -- in this case, a physician who apparently shares the host's worldview and has no use for the Washington Post -- who conceded that the report is, in fact, accurate, forcing Limbaugh to change the subject.
Sequestration cuts are affecting Medicare -- though not as much as some other programs -- and as Sarah Kliff explained, cancer clinics really are turning away thousands of patients as a result of the Republican spending cuts.
Oncologists say the reduced funding, which took effect for Medicare on April 1, makes it impossible to administer expensive chemotherapy drugs while staying afloat financially.
Patients at these clinics would need to seek treatment elsewhere, such as at hospitals that might not have the capacity to accommodate them.
Kliff talked to one Long Island oncologist who said he and his staff held an emergency meeting earlier this week and decided they would no longer see one-third of their 16,000 Medicare patients. "It's a choice between seeing these patients and staying in business," Jeff Vacirca, chief executive of North Shore Hematology Oncology Associates said.
But if Medicare was supposed to be shielded from the sequestration policy, how is this happening? It has to do with how medical offices are reimbursed for medications that need to be administered by a physician -- such as those given to cancer patients.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The New York Daily News reported today:
The so-called sequester cuts will force three-quarters of the thousands of cancer clinics nationwide to start referring Medicare patients to hospitals, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology and other cancer treatment groups, which have appealed to the White House and Congress for help.
Elderly cancer patients are being hit hard because their drugs are among the handful of pharmaceuticals that were affected by the sequester cuts.
Medicare reimbursed oncologists for the cost of chemo drugs, plus 6%. But under the sequester, the federal government is now providing only 4% on top of the drugs' cost, which can run $900 to $15,000 for a full course, depending on the cancer.
That 2% difference may not sound like much, but given the costs involved, it's an enormous pay cut for the cancer clinics, which some are now saying is a prohibitive new expense they can't afford.
Ted Okon, director of the Community Oncology Alliance, told Kliff, "If you get cut on the service side, you can either absorb it or make do with fewer nurses. This is a drug that we're purchasing. The costs don't change and you can't do without it. There isn't really wiggle room."
Note, this doesn't mean the sequester is necessarily cutting off cancer patients, but rather, it means these patients are being told by their local oncology clinics that they'll have to seek care at hospitals -- where the care will be less efficient and more expensive.
In case anyone's forgotten, it's within Congress' power to simply turn the sequester off. The whole thing could take five minutes. But for now, congressional Republicans have ruled out the possibility of turning it off, and have also ruled out the possibility of a compromise to replace these brutal spending cuts.
With each passing day, we learn of increasingly drastic consequences associated with the policy.
. |
|
|
Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:00 pm |
|
|
Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
|
| Hey, it's what your idol wants. If the medicare cuts don't get me the IPAB will. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
|
|
Sat Apr 06, 2013 5:17 pm |
|
|
twotap
F L I N T O I D
|
Funny how libs like Webs overlook this one fact.
Actually its not funny at all but shows how ignorant they are on most any subject.
Obama: I Will Veto Attempts To Get Rid Of Automatic Spending Cuts
President Barack Obama gave a press conference after the Supercommittee officially admitted it failed to reach an agreement to cut $1.2 trillion in budget spending over the next 10 years. Obama told reporters he would veto any attempt to get rid of the automatic cuts which are set to kick in as a part of the sequester proposition, which will be triggered unless Congress reaches over the next year. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
|
|
Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:49 am |
|
|
Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
|
| Meanwhile, his highness and the royal family continue with their vacations and fund raising. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
|
|
Sun Apr 07, 2013 10:39 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
| Look at how many times Bush wen to Texas on vacation. |
|
|
|
Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:04 am |
|
|
Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
|
| As usual with webs, partisan politics uber alles. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
|
|
Sun Apr 07, 2013 11:55 am |
|
|
twotap
F L I N T O I D
|
Hmm lets see GWB goes on vacation to a ranch HE OWNs, obama and his brood go to ultral expensive luxury resorts and sometimes her highness Mochelle along with the two princesses actually take seperate luxury getaways along with twice the expense to the taxpayers. But hey theirs no money for tours of OUR WHITEHOUSE.
I remember the lib press who covered GWB whining about having to go to his ranch instead of some ultra rich libs fancy digs in the Hamptons that BJ Clinton was so fond of.
Webs like all libs has a short selective memory.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
|
|
Sun Apr 07, 2013 2:46 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
