Sequester Cuts Will Slash Cancer Clinic Cash for Elderly Medicare Patients

The fiscal crunch is putting the squeeze on some of the most vulnerable Americans - elderly cancer patients.

The mandated federal budget cuts that went into effect on April 1 will make cancer clinics go broke if they give Medicare patients the chemotherapy they need, oncologists claim.

“A lot of us can’t believe this is happening,” said Jeff Vacirca, chief executive of North Shore Hematology Oncology Associates on Long Island.

Vacirca said he’s already alerted a third of his clinic’s 16,000 Medicare patients they will have to seek chemotherapy treatments at hospitals, which are not affected by the cuts.

Read the full story here: http://nydn.us/14Zfrg9

Source: The NY Daily News

“They are very upset,” he said. “They love coming to the clinic because it’s unbelievably efficient. They know the cost is fixed and very little compared to a hospital.”