This Week's News

Debt crisis averted, but Medicare physician payment issue remains

Although federal lawmakers passed legislation this week that ends the nation's debt ceiling standoff, a nearly 30 percent cut in Medicare physician payments still is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1.

President Obama signed the legislation into law Tuesday afternoon after it passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday night and the Senate on Tuesday morning. The law calls for a yet-to-be-filled, 12-member congressional debt committee to proposed new deficit reduction plans that potentially include entitlement program changes. The AMA expects the Medicare physician payment issue to be among those the committee will address.

However, the committee is required to report its recommendations to Congress by Nov. 23 and to act on those recommendations, without amendment, by Dec. 23—a little more than a week before the 30 percent payment cut is to take effect.

"It's unfortunate the debt committee deadline is just a few days before the 30 percent cut takes place," said AMA Immediate Past President Cecil B. Wilson, MD. "But the debt committee is an ideal venue to deal with a longer-term solution to the Medicare physician payment problem, as we can't tackle the long-term national debt without acting on Medicare physician payment.

"Repeated Band-Aid fixes have only served to increase the size of the Medicare cut and the cost of reform. A careful look at this issue will show that short-term actions are the wrong answer to a long-term problem."