Medicare pay cut could hurt patients

South Carolina's growing population of seniors may find a shrinking pool of doctors to care for them if Medicare cuts physician payments by more than 15 percent in the next year.

Unless U.S. Congress intervenes with the Save Medicare Act of 2008, physician payments will drop 10.6 percent in July and an additional 5 percent in January 2009. These cuts come after Medicare payment rates were frozen in 2001.

"The pay cut is going to have an impact on our ability to see patients and care for them," said Dr. Gerald Harmon, past president of South Carolina Medical Association.

As a primary care physician, Harmon said he is frustrated. "I want to continue to see my Medicare patients and see new Medicare patients find medical homes," he said.

South Carolina could lose $190 million in funding for care of the elderly and disabled, according to the American Medical Association. AMA Board Chairman Dr. Edward Langston spoke Friday of the cuts at the state medical association's annual meeting on Hilton Head Island.

Read more in Tuesday's edition of The Post and Courier.