A proposed 21 percent cut in Medicare physician payments scheduled for March 1 has been postponed until the end of the month.
Representatives for Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) both announced the extension Thursday. The cut has drawn concerns from both Medicare patients and doctors who treat them as it appeared a fix would not come before the March 1 deadline.
Brian Martin, policy director in Taylor’s Washington, D.C., office, said the House passed H.R. 4691, Temporary Extension Act, by voice vote.
Martin said the emergency legislation “will extend a range of programs (including unemployment benefits, the highway bill, COBRA, satellite TV, and small business loan guarantees) and blocks the cut in Medicare physician payments.
“The measure delays, through March 31, the scheduled 21.2 percent cut in the Medicare reimbursement rate for physicians, giving the Senate a full month to pass a permanent or at least long-term fix,” he said. “It extends eligibility for extra unemployment benefits through April 5, and extends federal subsidies for COBRA health premiums through March 31.
“It also provides extensions through March 28 for the law governing the distribution of local broadcast signals by satellite providers, the authorization for highway and transit programs, and the National Flood Insurance Program,” Martin added.
Martin noted that the House of Representatives in November proposed a permanent fix to the SGR (sustainable growth rate) program, which determines Medicare funding. However, that proposal failed in the Senate.
Jordan Stoick, communications director for Wicker, countered Dr. Randy Easterling’s comments in Thursday’s edition of the Laurel Leader-Call regarding Wicker never voting for a permanent fix.
Stoick said Wicker has never voted for it previously because it was “tied to really bad legislation.”
“Sen. Wicker supports permanently fixing the SGR program and has introduced legislation to do so,” he said.
Stoick added that Wicker first introduced his permanent SGR fix as an amendment to the Senate health care bill in December.
“While he was against the Democrats’ health care bill, he wanted to make the point that we should not consider ‘comprehensive’ health care reform without addressing the SGR problem — which the health care bill did not do,” Stoick said. “He has since introduced this amendment as a stand-alone bill.”
Stoick said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- ) is planning to bring a “jobs bill” to the floor next week, which is expected to include a longer-term SGR fix through Sept. 30.
“The bottom line is that Congress has not let these cuts happen in the past, and it will not start now,” he said.
Programs being extended by H.R. 4691 include:
• Unemployment Insurance: Extends unemployment benefits, including the increased payouts and longer duration of benefits from the Recovery Act through April 5.
• Help with Health Insurance for Unemployed Workers (COBRA): Extends the COBRA health insurance subsidy for people who have lost their jobs through March 31.
• Surface Transportation Authorization: Authorizes the highway, highway safety, transit and motor carrier safety programs of the Department of Transportation through March 28.
• Medicare Physician Payments: Delays a scheduled 21.2 percent cut on Medicare physician payments to protect Medicare beneficiaries’ access to physicians through March 31.
• Small Business Loans: Extends two temporary improvements to the Small Business Administration’s loan guarantee program, raising the percentage of loan amounts that the SBA can guarantee and allowing SBA to waive or reduce loan fees through March 28.
• Flood Insurance: Extends the National Flood Insurance Program authorization through March 28.
• Satellite Television: Extends the compulsory copyright license used by satellite television providers through March 28.
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