http://www.npr.org/2010/12/08/131877363/cuts-in-doctor-fees-for-medicare-patients-delayed?ps=cprs
Cuts In Doctor Fees For Medicare Patients Delayed
by Julie Rovner
December 8, 2010
By now it should be getting familiar. Unless lawmakers act before Jan. 1, Medicare payments to doctors will be cut by 25 percent.
It's the fifth time this year Congress has been faced with this same situation. Twice — in April and again in June — lawmakers missed deadlines and had to rescind cuts retroactively.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats support the cuts — which are so large many predict they would result in doctors' dropping Medicare patients. But so far no one has figured out how to come up with the $300 billion or so it would cost to fix the problem, or agreed to add it to the nation's burgeoning budget deficit.
Cuts In Doctor Fees For Medicare Patients Delayed
by Julie Rovner
December 8, 2010
By now it should be getting familiar. Unless lawmakers act before Jan. 1, Medicare payments to doctors will be cut by 25 percent.
It's the fifth time this year Congress has been faced with this same situation. Twice — in April and again in June — lawmakers missed deadlines and had to rescind cuts retroactively.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats support the cuts — which are so large many predict they would result in doctors' dropping Medicare patients. But so far no one has figured out how to come up with the $300 billion or so it would cost to fix the problem, or agreed to add it to the nation's burgeoning budget deficit.
