A Frog Slowly Boiling in Water: The Recent History of Medicaid Physician
Payments

Doctors bear much of the cost of Big Government health care.
By John R. Graham

"To keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result
is insane. Nevertheless, physicians still think that by lobbying the government
for higher fees, they will succeed in improving the government's unwillingness
to pay them adequately.

One would think that the history of Government health programs would lead
physicians to conclude that they should be wound down, not ramped up. This is
not the case. The American Medical Association, for example, calls upon
Government to increase "outreach and enrolment" for Medicaid.

A new article in Health Affairs quantifies what we have known for a long time:
Medicaid's payments to physicians are falling behind. They didn't even keep up
with inflation during the period, increasing by 15% over the five years to 2008,
versus inflation of 20%.

And yet doctors keep cheering when politicians fragment and hinder our access to
coverage by expanding government-run health programs. It's remarkably
self-destructive."

http://www.statehousecall.org/a-frog-slowly-boiling-in-water-the-recent-history-\
of-medicaid-physician-payments