Another Band-Aid for Medicare

On June 24th, Congress passed Medicare physician pay increase of 2.2% until November 30th, 2010. Again, this will temporarily reverse the 21% cut that has been anticipated. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, any claims that were processed at the 21% decreased rate, would automatically be reprocessed at the new increased rate. If nothing is done to fix the SGR formula, physicians are faced with a similar dilemma in December with the threat of a 23+% cut to Medicare payments. 

After the vote, President Obama stated that 'I believe we need to permanently reform the Medicare formula in away that attacks our fiscal problems without punishing our hard-working doctors or endangering the benefits on which so many of our seniors rely on. I look forward to working with Congress to achieve that goal, and I'm gratifies that in the meantime they've taken the provisional step of blocking this pay cut.'  Cecil B. Wilson, MD, President of the AMA, claims that Congress is playing Russian roulette with seniors' health care.

Democrats and Republicans of Congress each did their fair share of the blame game as to why the lack of support caused the delay in voting.  To read more about the bumpy road that this legislation as taken, visit Amednews.