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Senate 'doc fix' comes too late to avoid physicians' rancor
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| Contributor | Jason |
| Last Edited | Jason Jun 19, 2010 05:16pm |
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| Category | General |
| Author | Julian Pecquet |
| News Date | Saturday, June 19, 2010 11:05:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Senators patted themselves on the back and the White House sought political cover Friday as a 21.3 percent cut to Medicare physician payments went into effect, raising the ire of doctors and seniors across the country.
The Senate passed by unanimous consent a six-month, 2.2 percent pay increase for physicians following a late-night deal between Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), but with the House having already recessed for the week the deal came too late to avert the pay cut.
"After years of band-aid patches and short-term fixes, doctors caring for the millions of seniors in Medicare are now reckoning with an unprecedented 21 percent cut to their reimbursement rates," AARP Executive Vice President Nancy LeaMond said in a statement. "This cut creates a dangerous atmosphere for seniors and their doctors, and will contribute to more doctors making the decision already made by some physicians to stop taking Medicare patients."
The American Medical Association was irate.
"This is no way to run a major health coverage program – already the instability caused by repeated short-term delays is taking its toll," American Medical Association President Cecil Wilson said in a sharply worded statement. “About one in five physicians say they have already been forced to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practice. Nearly one-third of primary care physicians have already been forced to take that action. The top two reasons physicians gave for these actions were the ongoing threat of future cuts and the fact that Medicare payment rates were already too low.” |
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