Already, one in five Illinois doctors limits number of Medicare patients they treat. New survey results indicate Medicare’s funding uncertainty causing many Illinois physicians to stop accepting or further restrict the number of Medicare patients they treat.

Chicago, Illinois — Results from a physician survey paint a bleak picture of the availability of care for Medicare patients in Illinois.  More than 500 Illinois doctors participated in the online poll, conducted in May. The survey assessed the impact of a 21% reduction in the amount paid for Medicare services that went into effect on June 1.  Although Medicare administrators announced a short-term delay for the cuts through mid-June, physicians are bracing for the worst, indicating that the cuts may force them to place further limits on Medicare patients.

 Key findings include:

• 18% of Illinois doctors indicate they are currently restricting the number of Medicare patients they see, an amount that is slightly higher than the national average.
• 62% of doctors said they looked into “opting out” of Medicare when cuts were nearly imposed twice already this year.
• 51% of physicians plan to stop taking new Medicare patients if Congress only passes another temporary delay of the cut instead of a long term solution.

“These data show that Illinois physicians are clearly being backed into a corner.  We want to keep treating our Medicare patients, but may not be able to as a result of Congressional lack of will to make bold decisions,” said Illinois State Medical Society President Steven M. Malkin, MD. “We honestly don’t know yet if Medicare will pay the freight for the patients we are scheduled to see next week.  With such uncertainty, some medical offices are facing difficult choices.”  

“Unfortunately, Congress keeps choosing to apply temporary patches on Medicare to avoid cuts, when the real problem is a bad funding formula. In medical parlance, it’s like they’ve been giving painkillers to someone who stepped on a nail, but they haven’t removed the nail from the foot.  Eventually that foot will become infected, and that’s just what has happened to Medicare.”

Dr. Malkin said that Illinois doctors are calling on Congress to consider only legitimate and permanent funding solutions when it returns to Washington this week.  “Our Medicare patients deserve peace of mind. They deserve to know that they can see their doctor when they need us.”