Unless Congress repeals Medicare’s flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula by March 31, physicians face pay cuts and consequences—and medical students aren’t immune.
Patients in many areas of the country already face problems getting physician care, but this will worsen unless Congress acts quickly. Mark Kashtan, AMA Medical Student Section (MSS) member and House of Delegates Coordination Committee chair, recently published an article in the online medical student magazine in-Training, explaining what the SGR is and how it will affect future doctors.
“Regardless of your political leaning, call up your legislators during the month of March and tell them: ‘I am a medical student, and I am worried that if SGR is not repealed, it could damage my future ability to run a successful medical practice and serve Medicare patients,” Kashtan, a third-year medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin, writes.
“As medical students, we cannot wait until we are practicing doctors to pay attention to this issue,” he writes. “The most important thing you can do right now is make your voice heard.”
Congress is closer than ever to passing Medicare reform legislation that repeals the SGR formula, provides modest increases to physician payments for five years and prevents a 24 percent cut to physician payments. Send an email to Congress now, and call your lawmakers via the AMA’s Physicians Grassroots Network hotline at (800) 833-6354. Tell them no more patches; repeal SGR!
