In just six months, millions of baby boomers are expected to to enroll in Medicare at a time when the number of doctors refusing to take new Medicare patients is at an all-time high. In New York State alone, about 1,100 doctors have left the system. The American Medical Association blames low government payment rates for the sudden change. A 21 percent automatic cut in payments to doctors went into effect on Friday after Congress failed to pass a bill giving doctors a temporary reprieve.

With some areas of the United States already suffering from a deficit of primary care physicians, the AARP worries the trend away from Medicare will only make the problem worse. Some doctors, on the other hand, feel that the government has backed them into a corner. "Physicians are saying, 'I can't afford to keep losing money.'" says Lori Helm, president of the family doctors' group.

The number of doctors in the United States who are refusing to take new Medicare patients has reached an all time high on the eve of millions of baby boomers enrolling in the program. Dr. Herbert Pardes, president and CEO of New York Presbyterian Hospital, shares his opinions about why this is happening; this morning's headlines.

Last night the House of Representatives voted on an historic national health insurance reform bill. A hundred years in the making, this is going to have deep and lasting effects on every man, woman and child in America.

At President Obama’s urging, Democratic congressional leaders made considerable progress this week in reworking the nation’s health care system. On Tuesday, the House unveiled its health care reform bill and yesterday the Senate got its plan through committee. Both plans guarantee insurance for most Americans. They would raise taxes on high-income people while providing subsidies to Americans at moderate to low income levels. Both plans would also penalize employers who do not provide health benefits to their workers.

We turn to Trudy Lieberman for her take on what we could actually end up with. She is the director of the health and medicine reporting program at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism and she is a longtime contributing editor to the Columbia Journalism Review. We'll also hear from medical leaders Dr. Herbert Pardes, President and CEO of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital,and Dr. Michael Pramenko. Dr. Pramenko is a family physician. He also serves on the Colorado Medical Society’s Congress for Health Care Reform. We also hear from Michael Fredrich. He is the president of MCM Composites LLCs, who as a small business owner has struggled to provide health care to his employees.

Hospitals are the latest front of President Obama's drive to reform health care. Vice President Joe Biden is expected to announce today that hospitals have agreed to spend $150 billion dollars over the next ten years to care for some of the uninsured. What does that mean for hospitals—and patients? The Takeaway talks to Dr. Herbert Pardes, President and CEO of New York Presbyterian Hospital and to New York Times reporter David Herszenhorn.

For more, read David Herszenhorn's and Sheryl Gay Stolberg's article, Health Deals Could Harbor Hidden Costs, in The New York Times.