SAN ANTONIO - Big changes could be in store for Medicare starting March 1st. Those changes could translate into longer waiting room times, limited access to your doctor, and crowded emergency rooms. It's all because of a sharp decrease in reimbursements for doctors.
Doctors who see Medicare patients are looking at a 27% cut in reimbursement payments. This is money that doctor's use to pay their rent, their bills, and their staff.
"Physicians don't want more money. They just want enough so they can have their offices and keep them open,” Dr. Trevino, President of the Bexar County Medical Society,” said.
Dr. Robert Trevino practices on the south side and a lot of his patients are on Medicare or Medicaid. So, he knows first hand how this cut could affect doctors around San Antonio.
He explained how some doctors may adapt to the payment change, "I can make a lot of cuts. We'll have to fire personnel. Maybe we'll have to close the office. Maybe we'll have to find another way so that I can maintain a practice."
The 27% reduction is set to happen March 1st, unless the federal government steps in. Trevino believes once Medicare is changed, Medicaid could follow and then private insurance companies.
"It does scare us because we can't afford to get, especially a 27%, we can't afford for that to happen; especially since we're not getting paid on time as is,” Benita Lopez, Children’s Night Clinic Office Manager, noted.
Lopez tells us nearly 90% of the clients who walk in their doors are on Medicaid, Medicare, or CHIP. She says getting paid by the government isn't easy and her office struggles at times to make ends meet.
"I, myself, get nervous about it. And then you see doctors around you that are closing because they're not making it right now,” Lopez said.
Benita's boss, Dr. Daniel Penon, has no intention of turning his patients away no matter what happens. But, like Dr. Trevino, he knows something will have to give if this cut really happens.
"For the people that don't have physicians, for the people that don't have specialists, they're going to be the ones that have decreased access. You may have to wait months to see a physician. I mean, is that right,” Trevino asked.
The problem here is the cost to run a doctor's office goes up every year. But Medicare payments have been flat for nearly a decade. In the past the government has stepped in and helped. But doctors in town aren't sure that's going to happen this time around.
