Friday, April 5, 2013

Citing the sequester, cancer clinics reject Medicare patients

San Jose Mercury News
Cancer clinics across the country have begun turning away thousands of Medicare patients and blaming the sequester budget cuts. Oncologists say the reduced funding, which took effect for Medicare on April 1, makes it impossible to administer expensive chemotherapy drugs while staying afloat financially. Patients at these clinics would need to seek treatment elsewhere, but the only real alternatives are hospitals, which generally offer more expensive care and which may not be equipped to handle the influx.