Florida's two U.S. senators pledged to look for ways to reduce financial burdens on health care providers in an appearance at Shands at UF on Thursday.
Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican from Orlando, and Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Orlando, stressed the bleak effect of Medicare budget cuts on Florida health care.
Martinez said one of the system's biggest problems is Medicare fraud. He said people seem to ask for resources and money they don't need.
"Florida is particularly a victim of this situation," he said.
For example, Martinez said only about 8 percent of people with AIDS nationwide live in South Florida, yet 72 percent of all Medicare claims for HIV infusions come from that area.
In another case, a woman from Florida requested thousands of dollars for prosthetic limbs, but she wasn't an amputee, Martinez said.
He said he proposed a bill to double the Medicare fraud penalty from five years in prison to 10 years, which made it through the U.S. Senate last week.
Nelson said physicians' financial woes also result from Medicare reimbursement cuts.
The 2007 bill extended Medicare and Medicaid by offering physicians a 0.5 percent reimbursement increase as opposed to a 10 percent reduction, but that increase will only last through June, Nelson said.
"There has to be some reordering," he said. "The way not to do it is the way we do it now - with this constant nail-biting over whether you're going to be reimbursed."
Nelson and Martinez ended their 20-minute talk offering praise for UF and Shands.
"We're so proud of the University of Florida, and we're so proud of Shands and what you do for Floridians," Martinez said, adding that Shands once treated his sister.
Tim Flynn, associate dean of graduate medical education and a professor of surgery at UF, said he thought the senators tackled a lot of important issues, particularly the financial problems.
"We, as physicians, get frustrated when we can't provide the care we'd like to," Flynn said.
