Statewide Tele-Town Hall Draws 10,000
Seniors
Contact: Richard P. Gulla
Tel: 781-434-7101
E-mail: rgulla@mms.org
Waltham, Mass. -- December 3, 2010 -- Massachusetts Medical
Society President-Elect Lynda Young, M.D. this morning joined an
AARP Massachusetts Tele-Town Hall Meeting focusing on protecting
seniors access to health care, part of wide-ranging national and
local efforts in urging Congress to fix the flawed payment formula
used to reimburse physicians for treating Medicare patients.
More than 10,000 AARP members across the state participated in
the one-hour conference call, conducted by AARP Massachusetts and
hosted by AARP State Director Deborah Banda.
Dr. Young told the participants that "I believe I speak for all
doctors when I say our goal is to make sure your doctor is there to
take care of you, and that you get the care you need. Cuts to
Medicare threaten that, but I believe that by working together, we
can be extremely powerful."
Ms. Banda said the purpose of the call and other advocacy
efforts is "to stop Congress from driving doctors out of Medicare.
We must send a strong message to Capitol Hill that seniors have
earned their Medicare."
AARP, the nation's largest advocacy group for seniors, has been a
staunch ally of physicians in trying to preserve access to care for
seniors. AARP Massachusetts has been particularly active, joining
with MMS in advocacy efforts and authoring letters to the editor
and opinion pieces for newspapers across the Commonwealth. AARP is
urging seniors to contact their elected representatives to stop the
cuts and work toward a permanent solution.
If Congress takes no action, physicians will see cuts of some 30
percent in their Medicare reimbursements beginning in January. That
has prompted fears that some physicians may stop seeing Medicare
patients.
The flawed Sustained Growth Rate formula has been a problem for
physicians for nearly 10 years, with Congress each time
implementing a last-minute fix. This year alone, Congress has had
to apply a fix five times. MMS, AARP, and others are urging a
one-year delay in cuts to allow time to find a permanent fix.
More information is available at a special AARP website, www.aarp.org/keepmydoctor
The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 23,000
physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and
advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. The
Society publishes the New England Journal of Medicine, a leading
global medical journal and web site, and Journal Watch alerts and
newsletters covering 13 specialties. The Society is also a leader
in continuing medical education for health care professionals
throughout Massachusetts, conducting a variety of medical education
programs for physicians and health care professionals. Founded in
1781, MMS is the oldest continuously operating medical society in
the country. For more information please visit www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org or www.jwatch.org.
