Download America`s seniors and the physicians who care for them may rapidly

America’s seniors and the physicians who care for them may rapidly lose their battle with
cancer due to sequestration. Why? Sequestration has been applied to Medicare, reducing
payments to physicians and care providers. The Administration has decided to apply the
sequester cuts not only to reimbursement for services but also to reimbursements for
chemotherapy and related cancer-fighting drugs – a death knell to community cancer care
and an action that will have impact on patient care.
I do not first think of patient care in financial terms, but the fact is community cancer clinics
like mine are small businesses held to the economic reality that operating at a loss cannot
be sustained. This is bad news for cancer care, but devastating news for seniors struggling
with cancer. Oncologists should not be put in the untenable position of continuing to treat
patients at a loss, which will result in clinic closings, or being unable to treat Medicare seniors
fighting cancer in order to keep the clinic doors open. If these sequestration cuts continue, I
fear for the survival of my cancer clinic and therefore the survival of the patients we treat.
Respectfully,
Your Community Oncologist:
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