Dear Mr. Perez,
Thank you for contacting me regarding Medicare physician payment cuts. I appreciate your comments and welcome the opportunity to respond.
As you may know, in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Congress introduced the sustainable growth rate (SGR) which is the mechanism currently used to determine payment to physicians in the Medicare program. The SGR compares yearly changes in payments made to physicians providing care to Medicare beneficiaries to the growth of the overall economy. If the data shows that reimbursement rates are too high, they are then set to be reduced in accordance with the SGR formula. However, as health care costs have skyrocketed, the formula has produced skewed results and left physicians facing significant Medicare payment cuts at the same time they are experiencing increased costs. Physicians are, in fact, facing a staggering 21.5 percent cut in reimbursement starting in January, 2010. Congress has consistently acted to prevent any cuts to physician payments. I have supported these efforts because I recognize that the SGR formula is flawed. I support efforts to simplify the Medicare payment system and to address the SGR formula problem in a more principled fashion.
Furthermore, I am concerned that these recurring Medicare cuts to physicians could put patient access to their doctors in jeopardy by preventing physicians from accepting new Medicare patients. On October 13th, Senator Stabenow (D-MI) introduced the Medicare Physician Fairness Act of 2009 (S. 1776). The bill would permanently repeal the SGR formula. In addition to S. 1776, there are proposals within the Senate and House versions of the health reform bill that would improve physicians' payment schedules.
I agree that it is essential for Congress to replace the flawed physician payment system with one that reflects the cost of treating our Medicare patients. However, I also believe that we must do so in a fiscally sustainable and responsible manner. I will be closely reviewing what the best method is to address the problems associated with the SGR formula, but agree that a fix must be made.
Again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of further assistance to you on this or any other issue.
Sincerely,
Claire McCaskill
United States Senator
P.S. If you would like more information about resources that can help Missourians, or what I am doing in the Senate on your behalf, please sign up for my email newsletter at www.mccaskill.senate.gov.
No comments:
Post a Comment