When will pols start listening to providers?

I hope that the message (“Larson gets an earful from health care workers,” Feb. 21) has registered. Like the boy who cried wolf, we have been hearing the cries of a “health-care crisis” for so many years concerning health insurance that the cy of the real crisis from providers of health care seems to be falling upon deaf ears.

Dr. Cullison, president of the Washington State Medical Association, estimates that our state has had a net loss of 200 physicians in the last year. Our state ranks number 42 amongst all states in Medicare reimbursements per recipient. The fact that Washington, D.C., ranks No. 1 reveals the fact that they have, and we lack, political clout. Even if our two senators and congressional delegation rally to the cause, their combined strength will succumb to the power of New Jersey or Florida, which will tenaciously cling to Medicare reimbursements which double that of Washington state. We are even losing physicians to neighboring states of Oregon and Idaho where reimbursements, and salaries, are higher.

What clearer sign of the times does our community need when two well-established medical clinics in Everett have met their economic demise? The WSMA has estimated that any clinic that accepts more than 25 percent Healthy Options or Basic Health will meet its financial end. These two forms of coverage are still in operation at the Community Health Clinics, but only through the Community Health Plan. Even if a physician were willing to remain in practice at a lower income, this becomes impossible when the physician group has been extinguished.

Medicare reimbursements have been reduced nationally 5.4 percent as of the first of January due to the quirk of it being tied to the fall of the domestic GNP. This is heaping coals upon dying medical practice entities. Congress was asleep in November and paid no attention to the loud please of the physicians.

Much repetition has been made of “saving Medicare as we know it,” but before we embrace this goal, we do need to take a hard look at how poorly it is functioning before it is too late. Too late will come at a different time for everyone, but the message will finally ring clearly when your personal physician is ruined by the dual problems of Medicare and welfare.

Mill Creek

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