They are angered by HCFA's decision to tamper with this life-saving surgery and the depth of the proposed cuts. I don't think that cutting this kind of program is a way to go. The bottom line here is there is a life involved, you know, it's us as individuals, or our spouses, or a loved one. I believe that it will decrease the amount of services given to the patient, and I don't see any good that's going to come out of it. The patient is the person that's going to suffer.
Participants recognize the lengthy and costly education and training heart surgeons receive.
Hence, they believe that these surgeons should be generously compensated for the work they do, and guess that they receive an average of almost five times what they are actually reimbursed for bypass surgery. They feel the current reimbursement rates are too low, and hence, are outraged that HCFA would make further cuts. Forty percent is too much. They won't even do it for that. I wouldn't trust a surgeon if he was only paid that much money to operate on me.