ACTION ALERT On January 1, 2007, physician payments for Medicare services will be cut by 5% and private insurers will likely lower their payment rates, too. Congress needs to hear that this cut must be stopped. Medicare physician payments have not kept pace with inflation, and medical liability costs continue to increase. Medicare patients will be hurt the most. The physician community including ACEP, the AMA, and other physician specialty groups are continuing to urge Congress to address the cuts before adjourning for the year. ACEP staff continues to participate in meetings and briefings with Hill staff and House and Senate leadership where several scenarios are being discussed. The most promising scenario would attach a provision to fend off the Medicare payments cut to a tax break extender package that may be considered next week.The extenders bill would originate in the House as all tax bills must originate in that chamber. Although at this juncture, we have little to no details on the physician payment provision, discussions indicate that it would probably be scaled back from a freeze that would keep payments at the 2006 level, which was estimated to cost $10.8 billion over five-years as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). One offset for the cost of the fix that leaders are considering is the elimination of Medicare Part D insurance company subsidies to encourage them to provide Medicare prescription drug coverage, known as the stabilization fund. This is estimated to raise $5.8 billion in offsets over five years but the White House has repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation that targets this fund. But the President may also have a difficult time vetoing a package that targets the fund, if it also contained the popular tax cut extenders, which many legislators have been seeking to enact this year. Since a solution to the Medicare physician payment cut may come down to the wire in the final days of the 109th Congress,we urge you to continue to contact your legislators to urge them to prevent the cuts before adjourning this year.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS TODAY!
URGE THEM TO TAKE ACTION DURING THE LAME-DUCK SESSION TO STOP THE MEDICARE PHYSICIAN PAYMENT CUT
Please go to the ACTION ALERT on the ACEP website to send an email to your two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative to urge them to take action next week before Congress adjourns.