Medicare payments to doctors cut 21 percent Monday unless Congress acts

Physicians left their practices Friday frustrated at their elected leaders in Washington for failing to reverse a 21 percent Medicare payment reduction that will now take effect Monday.

The fallout is physicians may scale back on the number of Medicare patients they treat and some may drop out of the Medicare program entirely.

The payment cut likewise applies to members of the military on the federal government's TRICARE insurance.

Physicians have been on pins and needles for sometime over the Medicare payment cut and they didn't expect it would go through because of extensive lobbying and historically, Congress has reversed the cut in prior years.

"This weekend you will see a lot of them sweating," said Dr. Joseph Gauta, president of the Collier County Medical Society. "Nobody thought this would take effect. They thought it would be fixed."

rest at http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/feb/26/21-percent-medicare-payment-reduction-monday/