Patients may bear the cost of Bush's plan to reimburse less, critics say

By Katy Human

Doctors who treat nearly 700,000 elderly Coloradans, military personnel and their families in federal health programs are facing a 10 percent cut in reimbursement in July, health care advocates said Tuesday.

The cuts, included in President Bush's budget proposal for the next fiscal year, will probably make it harder for people in the insurance programs — Medicare for the elderly and Tricare for the military — to find physicians willing to treat them, said David Downs, president of the Colorado Medical Society.

"Many physicians will stop accepting Medicare," Downs said.

The planned Medicare and Tricare cuts come on top of a proposed $142 million annual loss to the state in Medicaid funds for the poor, said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., during a news conference at Denver Health.

Collectively, the cuts amount to a "dismantling" of health care systems in the country and in Colorado, DeGette said.

"It's frustrating that there's no real guiding force behind this," she said. "These changes are not informed by vision or policy. It's about cutting costs."

The Medicare and Tricare reimbursement cuts would mean an annual loss of $3.7 million to the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, school officials said.

The loss in funds would threaten the faculty's ability to continue to care for elderly and military patients, officials said.

Docs may limit patients

Downs said the Medicare and Tricare cuts could prevent soldiers and veterans from getting necessary mental-health services, as well as other medical care.

About 210,000 soldiers, military retirees and their families in Colorado use Tricare, according to the agency, and 5,600 doctors participate in the program.

Downs said a national survey by the American Medical Association indicated that if the cuts go through, about 60 percent of doctors treating patients in the two programs would start limiting their numbers.

About 14 percent of the doctors — with practices revolving around federally insured patients — said they would stop practicing altogether, Downs said.

DeGette said she will continue to look for ways to prevent the loss of funding for health care in Colorado — despite the prospect of a presidential veto.

Across party lines

There appears to be bipartisan support for preventing Medicare and Tricare reimbursement rates from dropping.

U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., has "flown in the face of the White House to preserve benefits for veterans on Tricare," said spokesman Joe Brettell.

"We have opposed the 10 percent cut, have aggressively looked for ways to fix the problem, and will continue to do so," Brettell said.

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., is concerned about the ability of rural and southern Coloradans to find doctors who will treat them, said Allard spokesman Steve Wymer.

"We hear from Coloradans, from vets and seniors, especially, that providers are disappearing," Wymer said.