Few South Sound doctors expanding Medicare services

By Keri Brenner | The Olympian • Published June 22, 2008

• Links
• Comments (0)

Susan Peterson gets about five calls a day from new South Sound residents looking for a doctor who accepts Medicare, the federal government's health insurance program for people 65 and older. – Susan Peterson gets about five calls a day from new South Sound residents looking for a doctor who accepts Medicare, the federal government's health insurance program for people 65 and older.

"I always give them the same three names," said Peterson, administrator of the Thurston-Mason Medical Society, which represents about 600 physicians in the two counties. "They're the only ones that will take new Medicare patients."

Peterson said she doubts whether even those doctors will continue to accept new Medicare patients if Congress goes through, as planned, with a 10 percent cut in the reimbursement rates for physicians July 1.

"A lot of retirees move here because it's a nice place to be, but they are unable to access health care," she said.

Dr. Ronald Krauss of Lacey Medical Clinic, one of the three doctors accepting Medicare patients, said he will not take any new Medicare patients other than those already in his practice who would turn 65 and become Medicare-eligible.

"All the other sectors of the economy are increasing in cost, but our reimbursements are shrinking," said Krauss, whose practice includes about 15 percent Medicare patients. "It definitely concerns me for the patients; the patients are going to be hurting."

Krauss said Washington already has the fourth-lowest Medicare reimbursement rate for doctors in the nation.

The cuts are penalizing Washington for being more efficient in health care services by giving the state less, he said.

"All in all, it's going to be a tougher time for seniors to find a doctor who will take care of them," said Steve Brennan, government affairs director for Seattle-based Providence Health & Services.

Brennan said the likely result is that people on Medicare will hold off any medical treatment until their condition deteriorates so far that they have to go to a hospital emergency room. That is more expensive, but it's covered by Medicare, he added.

However, if patients wait until their condition is serious, it could be too late.