Congress Fails to Stop Medicare Cuts by July 1; Physician Payment Rates Drop to 1994 Levels
[Posted 07/07/08]

The Senate again last week blocked legislation that would have stopped the 10.6 percent Medicare physician payment cuts that took effect July 1. A procedural vote to advance HR 6331 – the bill that overwhelmingly passed the House a few days earlier – failed in the Senate by only one vote. HR 6331 would have stopped the Medicare payment cuts in 2008 and 2009 and funded a small physician rate increase through tweaks to the Medicare Advantage program. Senate leaders have pledged to try try another vote on HR 6331 after they return from the July 4th recess.

CMA is outraged that some Senators chose to block the bill. Such cuts will force physicians to make difficult choices about limiting the number of Medicare and TriCare patients they can accept, which will further exacerbate the access to care problems in California. There are more than 5 million Medicare and Military TriCare patients in California, many of whom are already reporting difficulty finding a doctor.

President Bush continues to threaten to veto any Medicare physician payment fix that is financed by reforming Medicare Advantage. It is unclear whether seven more Republicans will buck their party and the powerful insurance industry to achieve a veto-proof margin. However, given the recent overwhelming vote in the House, many believe it is possible.

If President Bush vetoes the bill, as he is expected to, it will go back to the House and Senate for veto override votes. Although California Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are firmly on the side of doctors and their patients, physicians must keep the pressure on California’s House Republicans, particularly those who voted no on HR 6331, so that we can maintain the two-thirds margin necessary to override a presidential veto. (Voting no: Reps Doolittle, Lungren, Herger, Nunes, Radanovich, Royce and Campbell.)

Physicians should also call Senators Feinstein and Boxer and the members of Congress who voted yes and thank them for protecting seniors’ access to doctors.
Call AMA’s grassroots hotline at 800/833-6354 to be connected with your members of Congress.

Contact: Elizabeth McNeil, 415/882-3376 or emcneil@cmanet.org.