South Carolina's Medicaid agency plans to cut fees paid to doctors, dentists and other medical providers by between 2 percent and 7 percent next month.
The cuts don't go into effect until July 8th, and already some doctors are bracing themselves for the money they'll lose in reimbursement payments from the state.
Dr. Gerald Harmon has been running a family practice for 28 years in Pawleys Island. He's one of thousands of doctors across the state who received letters about the proposed cuts. As a primary care provider, Dr. Harmon is receiving one of the lesser cuts in reimbursement payments, 2 percent. Dentists will receive a 3 percent cut and optometrists, 5 percent. Read the full list of cuts here. Harmon says he's already calling in favors from those specialists who are having to turn away some patients themselves because the cuts are hitting them.
"We're doctors because we want to help people. We're providers because we're interested in helping folks, but you can only squeeze us so far. At some point I can't afford to be a doctor, and there's only so many options to do," Harmon says.
The cuts proposed are specifically to private care providers. NewsChannel 15 spoke with a spokesperson for Little River Medical Center, a non-profit, public provider. The spokesperson said it is unclear whether they would be impacted by the cuts.
Monday's announcement follows 3 percent across-the-board cuts enacted in April for those who treat the state's poor and disabled.
Medicaid is for people, any age, at the lowest poverty level, to get medical care, while Medicare, is a health insurance program for people age 65 and older or for those who have received Social Security disability for at least 2 years. People can be eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
According to the latest numbers from Department of Health and Human Services, more than 480,000 South Carolina residents depended on Medicaid in 2010. 56,752 of them were from Horry County. 15,026 were from Georgetown County. Between those two counties, the state has paid $198,729,867 in Medicaid costs, matched by the federal government.
The AP contributed to this report.
