The President pledged to protect Medicare benefits
from the NY Daily News – by Evan Gahr –
Obamacare has a new message to seniors: Take two aspirins and find yourself a new doctor in the morning.
Just ask 84-year-old Dorothy Gaillard, a retired book binder and a patient of my father, an Upper East Side primary care physician, for more than two decades.
Gaillard could easily find a doctor near her Queens home, but she dutifully makes a 45-minute schlep to my father’s office for uniquely personal care. He takes her blood pressure himself and even schedules her next appointment, tasks that most doctors shunt off to assistants.
Last Saturday, Gaillard called my father, aghast about a letter she had just received from the Medicare Advantage program of UnitedHealthcare.
Gaillard, one of close to 900,000 aged New Yorkers covered by Medicare Advantage, was informed that my father’s contract was being terminated effective Jan. 1; she would need to find another doctor.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she recalled. “Something ain’t right.”
That something is Obamacare. Due to reductions in funding under the law, the Medicare Advantage programs, in which Medicare provides money for private insurers to cover seniors, have quietly started to cancel the contracts of providers to save money.
Although there was much attention last week to the fact that many health insurance plans purchased on the individual market will be cancelled under Obamacare, the havoc it is wrecking on Medicare Advantage patients and their providers has been barely noticed.
Yet this is exactly what critics of the program have warned, even as its slavish defenders vehemently denied any coming ill effects.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was pooh-poohed after he said this August that “the chances are that soon [seniors] will open up the mail to the bad news that your Medicare Advantage . . . has been changed in a negative way for you because of Obamacare.”
In order to fund other aspects of the program, Obamacare cuts $717 billion from Medicare over 10 years; $154 billion of that will come from Medicare Advantage.
Citi analyst Carl McDonald warned his clients earlier this year that government payments to Medicare Advantage programs would decrease by 7% or 8% in 2014, proving “enormously disruptive to Medicare Advantage, likely forcing a number of smaller plans out of the business and creating disarray for many seniors.”
McDonald could not be reached for comment, but his warning has come to fruition.
According to New York State Medical Society president Sam Unterricht, UnitedHealthcare is canceling the contracts of 2,100 Medicare Advantage doctors, with nearly 8,000 patients, in the New York metropolitan area.
Brooklyn internist Mitchell Lipton, who has 60 UnitedHealthcare Medical Advantage patients, received a cancellation notice from UnitedHealthcare two weeks ago.
“My reaction was: I hate Obamacare.”
Unterrich, a Brooklyn ophthalmologist, says Empire Blue and Emblem Health are also cutting Medicare Advantage physicians loose, but he does not yet know how many. He wants a congressional investigation.
Nationwide, UnitedHealthcare is canceling 10-15% of its contracts with Medicare Advantage providers.
Back to my father, Herbert Gahr. He voted twice for Barack Obama, and now feels the President has betrayed him. He thought the government health-care program would bring him more patients, not snatch away those already under his care.
The classic adage about good health is “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
Elderly New Yorkers beware: The federal Leviathan that is Obamacare is devouring apples; it could soon make your favorite doctor stay away for good.
Funny how all these comments from three years ago about Medicare Advantage Plans being cancelled by Obama. I have been enrolled in a Medicare Advantage since they were first offered and still enrolled at the present time (2016) with nary a hint that it will be cancelled. It’s a wonderful plan.
It is high time for dyed- in-wool dems to realize that their tax and spend policies are altering our America in a negative fashion. Our forebears must be turning over in their graves
Obamacareless IS GOING THE WAY OF CANADA. The next thing Obama and Harry Reid will do is RAISE TAXES to help pay for this ridiculous law. I have a Humana Advantage Plan and I hope it doesn’t get cancelled. I honestly see a civil war not to far in the distant future. We have had it up to here on the federal govt. trying to control we the people. Each dat our rights are being taken away and when push comes to shove we the people will fight back. Please do your research on people running for office in 2014 and 2016. I hope the Republicans can find a man or woman who has some backbone totake the Senate and White House in the next elections. My vote is for Ben Carson!!!
I have had the same health policy since 1954. It covered all our needs for 50some years. It has increased
over the years which we expected but continued to pay all our bills. I am now on supplement with same
Company along with Medicare.
The people in this country should get some guts and march on Washington and refuse any part of obanacare,
But we have to money people living off govt. I think people think the govt. has all this money and do not even
know the money comes from taxpayers. These peopl are getting fewer and fewer so things may dry up.
Wake up people and stop giving these idiots in wa. and vote them out before our country is gone and your children
have nothing.
do u have medicare Advantage?
i have med adv with united heal care and i lost my doctor also my 81 yr old mother in law with alzheimers is in the same situation-i changed medical companies to keep our doctors -higher co pays etc-but what if my mother in law did not live with us-most seniors would not have a clue- this is a disaster-president obama lied period:)
My husband said Obama did not lie. We can keep the insurance we had. Just fold the now useless policy, put it in a drawer and keep it. This debacle of Obamacrap will end healthcare as we know it.
If the doctor lots and lots of elderly patients and keep Obamacare, he should go into the field of euthanasia. I’m sure that’s coming.
Lyndon Johnson borrowed from the SS lockbox to balance the budget (another Democrat) & put worthless bonds in the “lockbox” as IOU’S. From inception SS dollars were kept separate from the general budget but Johnson combined it all into one. It’s what you call creative accounting. Ronald Regan split SS back to a separate budget during his administration. As far a I’m concerned now that baby boomers are retiring the government is just paying back those IOU’S. If someone tells you the government did not spend our SS money it’s just a play on words or they are ignorant about History. Spend, borrow or combine into one budget, our SS was raided, has not been drawing interest or being invested, therefore not growing. SS is not an entitlement. We paid for it our whole working lives!!!!
The “dumocrap” congress during the Eisenhower administration started using OUR social security benefits to pay their bills. And yet when things go wrong the dumocrap congress threatens our benefits saying they will be the first to be cut. Social Security was taken out of our paychecks to supplement our retirement and NOT for congress and brainless presidents like barry to use for their own personal use or to pay bills for the country. It is OUR money, we had it taken from our checks – against our will – like federal taxes. So until enough people get their heads out of their a**es and stop voting STRAIGHT PARTY because they are TOO lazy to do their homework and research people running for office, we will continue with this way.
Yes – Social Security is NOT entitlements. Maybe since most of congress are millionaires – they can start paying out of their own pockets some of the bills they have created, and barry can start paying for his personal vacations and those of mooochie running all over the world having lunch, all on the taxpayers expense, when NO other president expected the taxpayers to pay for their personal vacations, date nights, Hollywood parties at the white house, just to name a few things barry and moooochie have done. And since they are multi-millionaires – they need to start paying back ALL of the money they have spent of ours on their vacations. And for the OBC to allow the receipts to be processed with the taxpayers paying instead of making barry fork over the money out of his pocket, they are in the wrong too and they all need to be eliminated.
Medicare did not drop the doctor, the doctor chose to drop Medicare. The author did not make this clear, but it appears that the doctor dropped Medicare in order to make more money.
You obviously did not not read the article
You are wrong. My doctor received a letter from United Healthcare informing him they were not going to include him in their list of doctors in 2014. Then they sent me a letter, informing me he wasn’t on their list, and gave me another doctor’s name, address & phone, expecting me to change. I’m changing alright, leaving United Healthcare & AARP, who sold us out.
United Healthcare is a for-profit provider. It is not Medicare. United Healthcare CHOSE to drop your doctor, not Medicare.
Well, I cannot I feel sorry for your father if he was so IGNORANT to even vote for “The OBUMMER” the first time, much less going it the second time around. Was it sheer GREED on his part, that he was expecting to get more patients, or is he really that IGNORANT that after 3+ years under “The Traitor”, that he could not see what was coming?
No, I am NOT sorry about being so blunt, but it never ceases to amaze me how utterly BLIND so many “Educated” people are!
Hal
I also received a letter from United Health that my doctor was being cancelled. I did the same as you did Linda. It took me a very long time to find a very good primary care physician and will do whatever I have to do to stay with him. Screw UHC. I also will not be renewing my AARP membership. I have joined AMAC because they are a conservative group & are not Obama’s lapdog. I wish I had known last year what I know now. Thank god I found out about AMAC. Have you noticed UHC is not advertising this year that seniors purchase an Advantage plan? The only one they want you to take is a SUPPLEMENT. That is because you have to pay additional money out of your pocket for a supplement. AARP & UHC are positioning themselves to be a part of the ELITE of the SOCIALIST regime (Democrat Party) if conservatives don’t get out in huge numbers & vote in the 2014 & 2016 elections.
In my area UHC only wants people insured by them to go to A medical clinic THEY OWN in another town. When they cancel your doctor they offer to help you find a new one. I would hope you find another insurance company instead & stop supporting UHC & AARP. I would like to see all conservative seniors switch. Get the word out to your retired friends.
About Obamacare, Obama & members of his administration lied to everyone and are now doing their usual play on words to convince the American people they did not lie when they said you could keep your insurance plan if you liked it you could keep it. They failed to tell everyone that your plan could not change in any way & if it did, it was no longer grandfathered in. Then HHS added that all insurance policy’s had to meet certain criteria therefore insuring the old policies had to change. Old bait & switch and stacking the deck in their favor. In their minds they didn’t lie they just omitted a very important piece of information. Lying by omission is still a lie.
It is my hope that ALL Americans will remember this in the 2014 & 2016 elections & vote the Democrats out.
Oh by the way, did you know UHC is also owned by the same parent company as the IT company (QSSI) hired to design the Obamacare website? LAPDOG
I am on SSDI because I’m on kidney dialysis. I’m also on Medicaid…but I pay for my premiums through a program called “Working Healthy”. And if and when I get another transplant, I will stay on Medicaid, because I have a pre-existing condition and I DO NOT trust anything stated in Obamacare that says that you can get insurance with a pre-existing condition…especially not from an employer. I’ve been fired from too many jobs for the “not working hard enough” and “not working fast enough” excuse to ever believe that that won’t happen after this disaster takes effect!
We had Medi Blue Empire Advantage plan for the last 3 years. Recently received news ir will no longer be offered and we will have to find other insurance. Many of our Drs will not accept Fedelis insurance, so we are forced to switch to a suppliment and part D policy. It will cost us over $200. per month , versus Advantage $42. per month! Our medical group, I understand had 1,500 patients who lost their Advantage policies! Thanks Obama!
All I can say is, God help us all. And if your congressman and senator voted for Obamacare (or Obamacrap) then when election time comes, vote their asses OUT !!!!!!!
I suspect if Ms. Gaillard can muster the courage to go without a Medicare Advantage program, it will be to HER advantage. I had a UnitedHealth policy for three years, about $40/month, and was dropped because I no longer lived in an area covered by United. Interestingly enough, my medical costs went DOWN and the difference between the UH policy and simple straightforward Medicare was revealed when UH sent me a description of benefits that outlined what I would have to pay for a procedure done AFTER I dropped them — $385. A couple of days later, I received a description of benefits — same doctor, same procedure, same date — that told me I owed $162. My situation may be unique but if it’s not, I wonder how much more I was compelled to pay under my UnitedHealth policy for a major operation a year and a half earlier than I would have under straight Medicare. I thought insurance policies were supposed to help you reduce your costs. In my case, that doesn’t appear to have been the case.
Many years ago there was a trust fund for Social Security, from what I understand that fund was borrowed from by the democrats and never put back. I do not consider Social Security an entitlements. I and many others paid into the program for years and are now just receiving back what we put in. I am sure there were many people who put into Social Security and unfortunately did not live long enough to collect from it, so what became of their money, and why are people who have died still getting checks sent to them?. Leave Social Security and Medicare Advantage plans alone. I like my doctor and i like my plan, leave it alone.
Before Obama care is through, there will be more uninsured people in the U.S. than those insured. The gov is on track to take everything you have if you cannot pay the penalty. This is the most awful thing I have ever heard happening in a free country. I am expecting riot’s over this Law. People can’t swallow this for long.
well if your father voted twice for Obama no wonder….idiots have to read, research , fact finding???all the thing libtards don’t do!!! I could of told your father way back….think he would believe me? Right!!!
Why is it that government can touch and reduce the payout of Medicare and Social Security from people that paid all of their lives for the privilege of having this when they retire. Remember we are and were forced to pay for it.
Again Leave SS and Medicare in its present state as it was supposed to be. If it is underfunded for some strange reason (borrowing by the Gov. from the SS Funds) then subsidize it with the money we safe when we bring all soldiers home and not fight anymore wars.
Thank you AARP you did good.
You backed ObamaCare I hope your happy for what
You did.
Too AARP members look into AMAC.
I am a member of AARP and I also have United Health Care Advantage Medicare Plan. I also received a letter from UHC advising me that my primary care physician was going to be dropped from plan beginning 1/1/2014. I found it easier to change plans than to change physicians, so that is what I did…..changed to Florida Blue. I will remain a member of AARP until 1/1/2014 then I will drop my membership. Yes, thank you AARP…for nothing!
I did go to AMAC over a year ago. AARP was always trying to solicit money to back Obama and the AARP backed United Healthcare Supplemental went through the roof. I changed Supplemental Insurance as well. I know people who had United Healthcare and now canceled. And NO absolutely NOT did I vote for Obummer. We can only hope and pray that the next president repeals this saddened state of affairs.