Medicare payments to doctors to be cut 10 percent

Republican senators successfully blocked a Democratic effort Thursday to call up a bill that would have averted a 10-pecent cut in Medicare payments to doctors. The same bill was approved Tuesday by the House by a vote of 355 to 59 (Source: “Doctors Face Payment Cuts for Patients on Medicare,” New York Times, June 27, 2008).

The cut in payment to doctors is set to automatically go into effect Tuesday and would be followed by a 1.1 percent increase in Medicare payments in January. The bill would cancel the 10-percent cut scheduled to occur automatically on Tuesday and then would increase Medicare payments to doctors by 1.1 percent in January. The new bill not only would have eliminated the payment cut, but also reduce payments to insurers for private Medicare Advantage plans.

The Senate, adjourning Friday for the Fourth of July, could potentially reinstate the current payment rate and retroactively pay doctors the higher rate when it returns.