When do these cuts stop? I think about living in a state like Maine, where we are the oldest state in the country, the impact these cuts have every year in a world with increased cost of labor, equipment, and overhead. Where does it end? At what point does private practice, especially, have to close its doors and bow down to the hospital-based clinics? Or is that what we want where they already get better reimbursement for the “same” care because of the baked-in “hospital” fees?

I wish some of you would come in and see the type of quality care you get in private practice. The only answer to these cuts is seeing more patients in a day. In a world where private practice already has to see almost a dozen patients a day, what does adding more patients to their day do to their quality of care for each patient?

Even though I’m still personally about 20 years away from Medicare (let’s be honest, at what age will it be when I’m closer to retirement?) but the impact I’m seeing daily in the clinics I support is frightening. I feel bad for the seniors and the people that pay their whole life into the Medicare pool. I feel terrible for the doctors of physical therapy that leave school with a debt-to-income ratio that doesn’t make sense to me. How do we pay the type of therapist the communities need to take care of our population with these cuts? I just don’t see the end game here and I’m more worried about my children than anything else.

Jason Finoia
Gorham