Congress passes fee fix, avoids 27% physician pay cut
Physicians are safe from the impending 27.4% cut to their Medicare payments set to hit March 1 thanks to Congress passing a temporary ‘doc fix’ Friday through the end of 2012.
The vote to extend the payroll tax holiday bill and keep the current $34.0376 conversion rate through Dec. 31 comes on the heels of intense debate among Congress members as to whether preventing the pay cut was fiscally sound. The $150 billion bill failed to include deeper cuts requested by GOP Congress members but remained largely budget neutral.
Congress originally approved a two-month fix that was set to expire Feb. 29. Once signed into law, the new fee fix will be good through Dec. 31.
SGR One Month Fix Passed; A “Kick the Can” Approach
This afternoon, the House of Representatives, by voice vote, passed the bill, (HR 5712) that provides for a one month delay in the 23 percent cut in payment rates that otherwise would have taken effect on December 1st. Recall that the bill passed the Senate before the Thanksgiving recess.
While some Congressional leaders want to permanently fix the SGR, the costs to do so remain a big obstacle. As an example, the costs to fix this for one year are about $19 billion. The next deadline before the cuts take place is January 1st. Whether the Congress deals with this issue before they adjourn, or the next new Congress deals with it (retroactively) remains to be seen.
