Despite a last minute attempt to prevent a 21.2 percent cut in Medicare physician payments, the U.S. Senate ended the week without a solution.
However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) have announced that they will hold reimbursement claims for 10 business days to allow Congress to come up with a solution.
Jordan Stoick, communications director for U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said a similar situation happened in 2008, when CMS held claims for 10 days until Congress passed a retroactive fix to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). SGR is the formula lawmakers use to determine Medicare payments.
“The Senate is expected to consider the issue next week,” Stoick said in a Saturday e-mail to the Laurel Leader-Call. “It is almost a certainty that any fix would be retroactive, meaning cuts to doctors’ reimbursement rates would not be implemented even if the legislation is passed after the March 1 deadline.
“Sen. Wicker continues to support a permanent fix to this problem, and has introduced legislation to do just that,” Stoick added. “He has voted to stop the cuts over half a dozen times in the past. The few times he was forced to vote against long-term fix legislation, it was tied to Medicare cuts or deficit increases of over $200 million.”
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation — H.R. 4961, the Temporary Extension Act — that would have postponed the cuts for an additional 30 days past March 1 with the hope of a more permanent fix to the SGR formula.
However, when that bill moved to the Senate, it failed by “unanimous consent” vote when Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) objected.
While the bill would have postponed Medicare cuts, a number of other programs including unemployment benefits, COBRA, the highway bill and small business guarantees were also included.
The failure of the legislation provoked a press release from U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis, who said she was “disappointed that partisan politics have been interjected into this essential extension.”
“It is essential that Congress extend the unemployment insurance and COBRA safety net programs that are party of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act past their current expiration date of Feb. 28,” she said. “If Emergency Unemployment Compensation and full federal funding of the Extended Benefit program are not extended, 400,000 Americans will lose their vital benefits during the first couple of weeks in March. By May, nearly 3 million people would be left without these benefits.”
Local News
Medicare cuts still without a solution
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Parents outraged
“It’s a sad day in East Jasper.” Those were the words of several parents who came out to the Heidelberg Multipurpose Complex Wednesday evening.
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Jones Co. native killed in Jackson accident
A Jones County native will be laid to rest this weekend after a fatal crash in Rankin County.
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Ellisville earns state-wide award
The City of Ellisville has yet another award under its belt.
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New No. 5 fire station ready
A ribbon cutting ceremony will be conducted today for the City of Laurel’s newest fire station.
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Annual ‘Gift of Sight Day’ being offered
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Students participate in Arbor Day event
Local residents celebrated Arbor Day for the planting of trees at several local schools.
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Arbor Day set for Feb. 10
The City of Laurel is recognizing Arbor Day and Laurel Mayor Melvin Mack has proclaimed Friday, Feb. 10th, as Arbor Day in the City of Laurel.
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JCJC’s student health fair focusing on prevention
Jones County Junior College students recently had the opportunity to discover the true meaning of Benjamin Franklin’s motto, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” at the college’s Student Health Fair. Hundreds of students took advantage of the opportunity to learn about a wide range of topics including behavioral problems, nutrition, fitness, and foot care.
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Aspiring to greatness
The Rev. Leander Bridges was the keynote speaker at Jones County Junior College’s Black History Program Tuesday.
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Arrest made in bomb threat
A 19-year-old Jones County Junior College student was arrested Tuesday in connection with a bomb threat to a building on the school’s campus earlier in the day.
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