Apr
Senate Finance Committee aides on Monday said that Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) will ask more than 50 physician groups to support his Medicare bill, which would delay a scheduled 10% reduction in physician reimbursements for 18 months, CongressDaily reports. According to committee aides, Baucus will not ask the American Medical Association to support the legislation because the group opposes the mechanism that he would use to finance the delay. The $8.4 billion bill would delay the reduction in Medicare physician reimbursements, scheduled to take effect on July 1, through “balloon financing” that would result in a 21% reduction in 2010, according to CongressDaily.
AMA supports a $40 billion Medicare bill sponsored by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) that would increase physician reimbursements by 1.8% for 18 months and would not impose a later reduction. Stabenow said, “It’s expensive,” adding, “I put forward what I think is the right thing to do.”
Committee staffers have begun negotiations on the Baucus bill with the Bush administration, “with the hope of avoiding last year’s breakdown in talks,” CongressDaily reports (Johnson, CongressDaily, 4/9). Baucus on Tuesday said that the legislation, which he expects to reach the Senate floor in May, might include a reduction in Medicare Advantage plan reimbursements to help cover the cost. The Bush administration and some Republicans oppose such a reduction. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said, “I have no doubt they’ll get some money out of Medicare Advantage, that’s where some of the money is. But if it’s done the wrong way and if it’s too much money, it could hurt a program that has been an outstanding success” (CQ HealthBeat, 4/8).
Judge Blocks Medicare Lab Competitive Bidding Program
In other Medicare news, U.S. District Judge Thomas Whalen in San Diego on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction to block the implementation of a program that would use competitive bidding to select clinical laboratories to conduct certain lab tests, the Wall Street Journal reports. Three labs have challenged the program, which CMS has launched as a pilot in the San Diego area. A CMS spokesperson had no immediate comment about the injunction (Wall Street Journal, 4/9).
Hartford Courant Examines Physician Shortage
The Hartford Courant on Wednesday examined how Medicare beneficiaries, as well as younger patients, often cannot find primary care physicians. According to the Courant, many primary care physicians are “overloaded” and “aren’t taking new patients,” with an “increasing number … around the nation” not “accepting new patients who are on Medicare.” In recent years, “far fewer medical students are choosing to enter primary care,” and physicians “have complained for years” that they do not receive adequate Medicare reimbursements (Levick, Hartford Courant, 4/9).
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