Every doctor in the United States who works with Medicare patients is facing a 10% pay cut starting on July 1. On Tuesday, however, an overwhelming number of the members of the US House of Representatives voted on a bill that would prevent this substantial pay cut to the nation’s doctors although President George W. Bush vows to veto it if the bill also passes approval in the Senate.
The vote of 355 to 59 represents approval from 226 Democrat and 129 Republican congressmen and women. Of the 59 votes against the bill, all were cast by Republicans.
Current law, which will cut payments to doctors beginning next week, includes another 10% pay cut coming in January. The bill just passed in the House will increase Medicare payments to doctors by 1.1% beginning next year.
The bill calls for a reduction in payments to private insurers offering Medicare coverage as a means of funding payment to doctors. These private Medicare Advantage plans are the reason the president vows to veto the bill and are why many Republicans voted against it.
The Medicare Advantage program came into being during a time the Republican Party claimed control of Congress. The program was an inducement to private insurers to participate in the Medicare program. Enrollment in this program has doubled since its inception but the per-person cost, paid by the US government, is higher for the private program than it is for the public program.
On a per-capita basis, the Medicare Advantage program received payment increases averaging 3.5% this year, with more increases scheduled for next year, although current law cuts payment to doctors by about 5% each year until 2012, after the cuts of 10% currently scheduled for next week and January 2009. Some private insurers offering Medicare Advantage coverage include a number of Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies, Humana, and UnitedHealth.
Of the 44 million elderly and disabled Medicare recipients in the US, more than 10 million of them have Medicare Advantage coverage, which offers enhanced benefits the federal Medicare coverage does not offer.
Saying he is encouraged by the “overwhelming show of bipartisan support” of this bill in the House, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, says he expects to introduce the bill to the Senate later this week.
Source: NYT