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Congress delays Medicare physician payment cut, extends 2.2% update for 1 year
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The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill by a unanimous voice vote that forestalls for 1 year a 25% physician payment decrease scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. The Senate passed the bipartisan bill Dec. 8.
The measure also uses provisions in Pres. Barack Obama's health care reform law to extend the current 2.2% Medicare physician payment update for 1 year.
According to the American Optometric Association, congressional aides indicate that the $19.2 billion proposal will be paid for by improving the way the government recoups overpayments on consumer subsidies and will raise the limits at which low-income individuals repay the subsidy if they overstate their income.
"The AOA is proud to lead a broad coalition of national physician and patient groups that has succeeded in making Congress and the President finally get serious about Medicare physician payment reform," Joe E. Ellis, OD, AOA president, said in a prepared statement. "We are now seeing Washington take a long-overdue step toward the Medicare payment stability that our doctors and patients need and deserve."
According to the AOA, this bill follows five short-term Medicare payment "patches" passed by Congress to combat significant physician payment cuts in 2010 alone.