2% pay cut thanks to the government

[disneysteve]

Effective yesterday, Medicare is cutting payments to doctors by 2% due to sequestration. Wonderful. Just in case we weren't struggling already, now we get an additional 2% cut in income. Does anyone know if sequestration affected Congress' pay?

[Nika]

My husband's pay is about to be cut 20% due to sequestration. that is 2% times 10!

If those idiots in congress are intent on sticking to their ideology, how about they be forced to stay there until they work it out. No vacations, long weekends or any weekends for this matter if they are not doing their job.

For lunch, they should be fed school lunches that they serve in public school every day.

Can't leave until you do you job. That applies to most people.

[bjl584]

This will make you happy:

http://www.caintv.com/u.s.government-spends-880000-o

So will this:

http://www.pocketfives.com/f13/2-7m-drunk-lesbians-3-8m-decrease-human-elephant-conflict-677432/

And so will this:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/05/air-force-one-air-fare-179750-per-hour/1

I could go on.......

[disneysteve]

Thanks a lot Brian.

I heard on the news the other day that the Blue Angels have been grounded due to sequestration. What a shame that we can't literally burn money to have them show off at airshows and sporting events while millions of workers, including private sector folks like myself, get pay cuts.

Sometimes I wonder about this country.

[JoeP]

Can you do like everyone else does and just raise your prices?

[~bs]

2% sucks, not to mention upcoming Obama care, but it's nothing compared to the 1 day a week federal furlough.

[disneysteve]

Can you do like everyone else does and just raise your prices?

Nope. That's something that I don't think most people understand when they complain about their medical bills. We have zero control over what we charge. Rates are set by Medicare and other insurance companies and either we accept those rates or we can't see their patients. So when Medicare cuts their reimbursement rate, we're stuck with the lower payment. Of course, our expenses don't get any smaller. Our staff (and ourselves) still want to be paid. Bills still need to be paid. Insurance premiums still need to be paid.

[ua_guy]

This is the proverbial double-edged sword.

A lot of people complain that our country spends money it doesn't have. The Sequestration is about this country spending less money. This is exactly what spending less money looks like. If you are paid by, or reimbursed through government programs, you receive less money (unless you write the laws, of course).

Nika - Congressmen/women shouldn't be provided food at all. They should bring their own lunch, like everyone else who works for an honest day's pay.

[humandraydel]

Nope. That's something that I don't think most people understand when they complain about their medical bills. We have zero control over what we charge. Rates are set by Medicare and other insurance companies and either we accept those rates or we can't see their patients. So when Medicare cuts their reimbursement rate, we're stuck with the lower payment. Of course, our expenses don't get any smaller. Our staff (and ourselves) still want to be paid. Bills still need to be paid. Insurance premiums still need to be paid.

So you COULD elect to stop seeing Medicare patients? I'm pretty sure in one article I read there were doctors threatening to do that - but it may have just been empty threats.

[disneysteve]

So you COULD elect to stop seeing Medicare patients? I'm pretty sure in one article I read there were doctors threatening to do that - but it may have just been empty threats.

Sure I could. So I'd lose about 30% of my practice which would put us out of business entirely.

[snafu]

DS: How is the AMA responding to this 2% reduction.? I don't hear or see their representatives response at all. We're inundated daily with interviews from various spokesmen from the gun lobby NRA who insist that the fathers of your constitution want Americans to enjoy assault rifles, 90 rounds etc. We had a whole day of a TV show called 48 hours, which was described as reality TV [no actors/no script] featuring teens/twenties with guns killing each other.

[phantom]

It'll be okay. When you go to pay for things, you can just give everyone 2% less than you normally would. Tell them that you had to cut your budget and couldn't decide what was essential and what wasn't, so you're just making across the board cuts. I'm sure everyone will understand.

[bUU]

Effective yesterday, Medicare is cutting payments to doctors by 2% due to sequestration. Wonderful. Just in case we weren't struggling already, now we get an additional 2% cut in income. Does anyone know if sequestration affected Congress' pay?

Did they do anything to reduce how much Medicare can be charged for pharmaceuticals or medical devices? That's where the most excessive cost in the system resides.

If those idiots in congress are intent on sticking to their ideology, how about they be forced to stay there until they work it out. No vacations, long weekends or any weekends for this matter if they are not doing their job. For lunch, they should be fed school lunches that they serve in public school every day. Can't leave until you do you job. That applies to most people.

The problem is that the folks who are "sticking to their ideology" are accomplishing their ideology specifically by not "working it out". The failure to reach a deal actually satisfied their overriding objective. The problem is that doing to Steve what they did to Steve is a natural reflection of what about half the people in this country want, and the fact that real people are harmed by it doesn't factor into their preferences in that regard.

[moneybags]

Did they do anything to reduce how much Medicare can be charged for pharmaceuticals or medical devices? That's where the most excessive cost in the system resides.

I don't know the details, but there is a new "medical devices tax". It is placed on manufacturer's of medical devices. It is costing corporations millions to even implement systems to calculate the tax. I'm sure that cost will be trickling down at some point.

[bUU]

You're referring to the Excise Tax on Medical Devices. That was already part of the budget. I'm wondering if sequestration, itself, caused an additional sharing of the burden to be placed onto medical device manufacturers, given that they're far more significant windfall beneficiaries of the health care system than folks like Steve.