This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

House rejects Senate plan to delay Medicare physician payment cut for 2 months

The U.S. 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 Various medical societies have called for the SGR to be amended or repealed.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.

Follow the PediatricSuperSite.com on Twitter.