Congress and Medicare — Will the Cuts Stay?

The executive branch (Dept. of Health and Human Services) stepped in yesterday to stop a 10.6% cut in Medicare reimbursement to physicians from going through because Congress left for a recess before finishing deliberations on a bill. DHS is freezing current reimbursement levels for up to 10 days. After that, physicians and other health care practitioners might get the money back retrospectively if Congress can find a way to keep reimbursement at its current levels.
So, what is the danger to cutting what doctor’s are paid for treating Medicare patients? The American Medical Association is claiming that physicians will drop out …read more