Despite promises that MAGA Republicans will never curtail Medicare benefits, attacks on Medicare have already begun.
As the attached flyer shows, dermatologists are alerting patients that they will not be able to have same-day procedures for the most basic dermatological procedures. Instead, under the proposed changes to Medicare, dermatology patients will have to schedule more visits, make more trips to the doctor, wait longer between procedures, and pay more since they are making more visits to the doctor.
These changes are now impacting how dermatologists are seeing patients. Not in the future, but right now, right before the midterms are held in November.
The changes are part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed 2027 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, which sees a projected 9% overall payment reduction for dermatology practice reimbursements. The proposed changes will mean a 50% payment cut for same-day evaluation and management (E/M) visits paired with a medically necessary procedure like a biopsy or cryotherapy.
In addition, dermatology practices will face changes in how overhead and practice expenses are calculated without direct physician input.
According to the American Academy of Dermatologists website, the proposed changes to Medicare by MAGA Republicans “could force local dermatology practices to limit Medicare capacity, potentially leading to longer wait times for appointments and risking delays in skin cancer diagnoses when early detection is critical.”
The American College of Mohs Surgery said on its website that Medicare reimbursements are falling while inflation is increasing. “Physicians are the only healthcare providers whose Medicare payments do not receive an annual statutory inflation update. While overhead costs, clinical staff wages, equipment, and general inflation continue to surge.”
The group said the proposed 9% decrease in reimbursements for 2027 “is entirely unsustainable,” even as similar cuts will be affecting other physician practices. In practice, these cuts will mean a 50% cut to same-day evaluation and procedure care, accompanied by “volatile shifts in practice expense calculations that would result in cuts to dermatological care.”
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. One CDC study suggests that each year, about 6.1 million adults are treated for basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas at a cost of about $8.9 billion. The National Cancer Institute found that in 2026, an estimated 112,000 people will contract skin melanoma, accounting for 5.3% of all cancers. An estimated 8,510 people will die from skin cancer in 2026, accounting for 1.4% of all cancer deaths.
MAGA Republicans Lied About Avoiding Medicare Cuts
Despite years of promising not to cut benefits to Medicare and Medicaid, the reality is very different.
The Medicare Rights Center said the latest Republican tax bill “takes direct aim at Medicare, gutting eligibility and restricting access to benefits, while also cutting Medicaid in ways that would harm people who are dually eligible for both programs. For low-income older adults and people with disabilities, the health and economic ramifications of these cuts would be devastating.”
This also includes cutting Medicare benefits to people with lawful immigration status, many of whom have paid taxes in the US.
ABC News reported that Trump has repeatedly promised to protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, but the actions of MAGA Republicans say otherwise. In 2015, Trump said he would “Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts,” but when he was elected, he tried to dismantle it.
In an Oval Office interview on Jan. 31, 2025, Trump said: “We’re going to love and cherish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. We’re not going to do anything with that, other than if we can find some abuse or waste, we’ll do something, but the people won’t be affected. It will only be more effective and better.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a MAGA Republican, told reporters that “No, the president has made clear that Social Security and Medicare have to be preserved.”
