Seniors See a Doctor Shortage

In Washington, where the government has returned to deficit spending and lawmakers weigh billions of dollars in competing demands and services, the outlook remains murky for Medicare physicians and patients.

Ten-year cost estimates for a Medicare prescription drug benefit range from $350 billion to $800 billion. The House has passed and the Senate is considering a bill to restore about $11 billion in cuts from doctors' Medicare reimbursements over 10 years, as well as to provide additional Medicare payments for hospitals, nursing homes and HMOs.

The Bush administration has said the prescription drug plans and the proposed Medicare fee increases would cost too much.

"Obviously," Lazarus conceded, "it's a matter of money. But the government has made a commitment to take care of the elderly, so they need to do it." If lawmakers learn of the serious access problems resulting from Medicare fee cuts and still fail to do anything about it, he said, "they've broken their covenant."