Impeding changes to our Health Care system

[classicman]

Seemingly Partisan Op-ed opinion piece....

A study from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission found that the average Advantage plan costs the government 13 to 17 percent more than conventional fee-for-service Medicare. That would seem to make the Advantage program a good target for cost-cutting.

Yet, much of that additional expense goes directly toward providing Advantage enrollees with better benefits, which results in better outcomes. A 2004 review conducted by America's Health Insurance Plans found that Advantage outperformed traditional Medicare in several key quality indicators, including annual flu vaccinations, diabetes testing, and breast cancer screenings. Researchers also found that Advantage enrollees were screened and diagnosed earlier for deadly diseases like cervical cancer, colon cancer, and melanoma.

Not only does Medicare Advantage deliver superior outcomes, it also helps keep health-care costs for other patients lower than they would be if all seniors were consigned to fee-for-service Medicare.

How so? Conventional Medicare reimburses health-care providers much less than it actually costs to treat a patient. In California, for instance, Medicare only pays about 74 cents for every dollar in hospital costs.

So providers often lose money on each Medicare patient they treat. To compensate, they charge privately insured patients more. In fact, Medicare underpayments cause privately insured Americans to pay $49 billion more each year than they would if Medicare paid private-market rates. This "hidden tax" is four times greater than the alleged over-payments to Medicare Advantage plans. By driving more seniors into traditional fee-for-service Medicare, the government will significantly increase this hidden tax.

It will also reduce seniors' access to care. Low reimbursement rates have already caused doctors to stop accepting Medicare patients. According to a 2008 survey, 36 percent of doctors report that Medicare payments do not cover the cost of providing care. A full 12 percent of those surveyed said that they'd closed their practices to new Medicare patients.

Link

This seems like a rational rationale though. I am curious - what happens if this trend continues? If it is a trend. Is there some way to curb the # of providers from not accepting medicare patients? Can we link the care provided through insurance to only those providers who also accept Medicare or something?

Again, I realize this is only a commentary on a certain aspect of the bill, but . . .