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House rejects Senate plan to delay Medicare physician payment cut for 2 months
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The US House of Representatives voted to reject a Senate bill that would delay a 27.4% Medicare physician payment cut and extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment compensation for 2 months.
The House vote propels the bill into a conference committee to iron out differences between House and Senate versions of the measure.
The House passed the bill by a vote of 229-193; no Democrats voted in favor of the measure, according to the House website.
The original House version of the bill, passed Dec. 13, called for a 2-year delay of the Medicare payment cut and extension of the payroll tax cut.
On Dec. 17, the Senate passed a bipartisan compromise measure that called for a 2-month extension of the payroll tax cut and current Medicare physician payment rate.
The physician payment cut results in part from the sustainable growth rate (SGR), a key factor in annual Medicare payment updates. Various medical societies have called for the SGR to be amended or repealed.
President Barack Obama has called on the House to approve a short-term plan to forestall a tax increase scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.
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