And here's the grim diagnosis from the American Medical Association: A health care crisis is looming for our nation's elderly, and for anyone who plans to grow old. About 25 percent of persons on Medicare already report trouble finding a new primary care physician, and unless Congress acts quickly, the problem will only get worse.

Effective Jan. 1, Medicare payments to physicians will be slashed by 10 percent, the first in a series of cuts that will reduce payments by 40 percent through 2016. In Utah, that will equate to a loss of $30 million in income next year from the state's 216,000 Medicare recipients, and nearly $1.2 billion over the next nine years.

Concerned about the potential impact on patients, and the bottom lines of its members, the AMA polled 8,955 doctors about how the changes will affect their practices, and the results should scare you.

About 60 percent of physicians surveyed said they will limit the number of new Medicare patients they accept if the 10 percent cut takes effect, while 28 percent said they would stop accepting new Medicare patients entirely. By 2016, if the cuts continue as planned, 64 percent of the doctors said they would turn away new Medicare patients, while 44 percent said they would stop treating patients on Medicare altogether. Plus, more than two-thirds said they would be forced to defer the purchase of new equipment and information technology.

Congress should consider the source of these statistics, of course. It's an AMA survey. But it would also be wise to consider the consequences of not taking action, as well as the recommendations of Congress' own Medicare advisory board, which suggests a 1.7 percent increase for 2008 instead of a 10 percent cut.

In the past, Congress has voted to take similar cuts off the table, or prescribed small increases in payments. But, unfortunately, a couple of aspirin won't cut it this time. Medicare needs major surgery, and guaranteed annual increases for physicians tied to the cost of doing business.

We made a promise to our senior citizens in 1965, the year Medicare was born. Now, we need to see the program through this midlife crisis, so the golden years of millions of Americans aren't cut short by a dearth of medical care.