CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR VOTES FOR FAIR PHYSICIAN PAYMENTS
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Nov 20, 2009, 0 Comments
Courtesy Ashley Patterson,
House passes Medicare reimbursement fix to help Seniors keep their doctors
Washington, DC – Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) today voted to protect millions of seniors relying on Medicare by fixing the way their physicians are reimbursed. The Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, passed by the House today, aims to permanently reform the Medicare payment system, repealing a 21% cut in payments scheduled for January 2010.
“By blocking this cut and replacing it with a stable reimbursement system we will preserve seniors’ ability to keep their doctors,” said Congressman Cuellar. “This protects our seniors, helps our doctors and fixes a system that has been patched six times.”
H.R. 3961 would correct a decade-long cycle of short-term fixes for the Medicare reimbursement rate system. Currently, health care providers treating seniors on Medicare are reimbursed according to the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. Congress has acted six times in the last six years to enact a short-term fix to the SGR.
“This formula has continuously underserved and under reimbursed our doctors,” said Congressman Cuellar. “If we don’t fix the system, we endanger our ability to provide care to our seniors in the future. Enacting another short-term fix is like kicking the can down the road and jeopardizes the solvency of Medicare. A permanent fix is needed now and on the heels of reform, now is the time.”
As companion legislation to the House health care reform bill passed two weeks ago, H.R 3961 is supported by a wide range of organizations including the American Medical Association, AARP and the Military Officers Association of America.
The SGR “fix”, as it is commonly known, protects access to physicians for Medicare beneficiaries and also supports members of the military and their families relying on Tricare. Medicare reimbursement rates dually apply to physicians providing care to Tricare patients.
Today, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act passed the House by 243-183 and will now move to the Senate. The bill will also attach and send to the Senate H.R. 2920, the Statuary PAYGO Act of 2009, passed by the House on July 22. Congressman Cuellar co-sponsored the Pay-As-You-Go legislation which restores spending rules to Congress to reduce the national deficit.
“The PAYGO principle is simple: you can’t spend more than what you have,” said Congressman Cuellar. “Moving this legislation to the Senate will bring us one step closer to reigning in national spending and return our deficit to the surpluses of the nineties.”
If passed by the Senate and signed by the President, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act and Statutory PAYGO would become law.
For more information on H.R. 3961, please visit: http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_sgr1.pdf
For more information on Statutory PAYGO, please visit: http://cuellar.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=138816
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