On 11/1 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Medicare reimbursement for physicians would be cut by 27.4% in 2012---instead of the 29.5% that was previously planned. Doctors that get by on federal payment for seeing older folks are SOL. Older folks are likely to be in a pickle too, as fewer docs will stick with them, given the hoop jumping required to get paid diddley in the first place. As a naturopath I won't qualify for medicare payment in the first place, so I have limited sympathy for those physicians who consider this cut to be akin to a death sentence. The medscape article suggests that nearly 13% of family physician practices may have to close due to the decrease in financial viability. There is another way for us to take care of our elders. We just haven't found it yet.

The relief of suffering and the cure of disease must be seen as twin obligations of a medical profession that is truly dedicated to the care of the sick. Physicians' failure to understand the nature of suffering can result in medical intervention that (though technically adequate) not only fails to relieve suffering but becomes a source of suffering itself.
--Eric J. Cassell

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iat.org about implicit associations
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/ <---this is the site
take tests to discover your own unconscious filters, about lots of things
the first step in cultural competency is to know who you are and what you believe

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