Medicare Pay Cut Delayed to April
1
President Barack Obama, on March 2, 2010, signed
a bill to end the "Medicare meltdown" of
2010. Now Congress faces the task of making sure
the meltdown does not repeat itself.
The bill inked by President Obama delays the effective
date of a 21.2% reduction in Medicare reimbursement
for physicians from March 1 to April 1.
That threat about access to care does not appear
to be an idle one in light of a recent poll conducted
by Medscape. Approximately 65% of physician respondents
said they would stop seeing or cut back on Medicare
patients as a result of the March 1 cut.
Fortunately, physicians were able to dodge the
reality of the pay cut, thanks to a paperwork maneuver
by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS). Late in February, CMS instructed its carriers
not to process March Medicare claims for the first
10 business days of the month. When CMS does process
and pay those claims, it will do so at the full reimbursement
rate.
Congressional Democrats will now turn their attention
to approving a longer-term version of the bill that
President Obama signed into law Tuesday. That next
bill, the American Workers, State and Business Relief
Act, would extend the effective date of the Medicare
pay cut to October 1, 2010. Presumably, this measure
could buy time for Congress to pass a permanent solution
to the problem of the sustainable growth rate formula
triggering reimbursement reductions each year, which
Congress then postpones.
If October 1 becomes the new effective date of
the pay cut, Congress could be voting on Medicare
reimbursement again shortly before the November election,
which will make lawmakers seeking reelection nervous
about looking like big spenders. It could be more
politically expedient to move back the effective
date of the pay cut a few more months than replace
the sustainable growth rate formula altogether. |
