AMA Betrayed... No Permanent "Doc Fix" on Cuts to Medicare Reimbursements

[womp]

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/10/21/docs-fix-doa/?xid=rss-topstories

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just told reporters that he will not be moving Senator Debbie Stabenow's 10-year, $247 billion freeze on doctors' Medicare payments (to permanently prevent automatic reimbursement cuts of 21% next year and 40% the year after). He said he thought he had the votes – and was promised Republican 27 votes from the AMA – but has since realized he doesn't. “I don't bring anything to the floor unless I think I have the votes,” Reid said, answering a question about the apparent shortfall of support. “I was told by various people that we'd have 27 Republican votes, which seemed reasonable since Senator Jon Kyl was the co-sponsor of this legislation. So I was stunned when I was told by his co-sponsor, Senator Stabenow, that, no, he wouldn't support it.”

Reid said he's now looking at a “multiple year fix.” Jim Manley, Reid's senior adviser, said after the press conference (which happened to be on revoking health insurers' anti-trust exemption) that the majority leader hasn't decided yet how many years the fix will be, though we're still expecting a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the issue this afternoon. Senators Conrad and Grassley have proposed a two-year fix and are looking for offsets for the $24 billion bill. The $247 billion bill had no offsets.

AMA Response:

“The AMA is deeply disappointed that the Senate today blocked consideration of S. 1776, legislation to preserve access to health care for America's seniors, baby boomers and military families. Senator Stabenow is a long-time champion for patients and physicians, and the AMA, AARP and MOAA strongly supported her bill that would have laid the foundation to permanently fix the Medicare physician payment formula and keep Medicare strong as millions of baby boomers enter the program in just two years.

“As we work to improve the health system, permanent repeal of the payment formula is essential to ensuring the security and stability of Medicare. On January first, Medicare physician payments are scheduled to be cut by 21 percent, with more cuts in years to come. Nearly 90 percent of people age 50 and older are concerned that the current Medicare physician payment formula threatens their access to care.

“While short-term fixes have temporarily averted widespread access problems, they have also grown the size of the problem – and the cost of reform. The AMA is committed to fixing the Medicare payment problem once and for all for seniors, baby boomers and the physicians who care for them.

“There is widespread agreement among Republicans and Democrats that the formula is broken and needs to be repealed. Congress created the Medicare physician payment system, and Congress needs to fix this problem once and for all to fulfill its obligation to seniors, baby boomers and military families. Permanent repeal of the Medicare physician payment formula is essential to comprehensive health system reform.”
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[Lokhtar]

Haha, Republicans want it every which way, don't they? Keep medicare strong! But don't give it to anyone else! And pay doctors too little to make it worthwhile to see medicare patients!

Ridiculous.

 

[MOHS_01]

I thought the same thing.... for the informed, it was either discordant positioning or frankly disingenuous on the Repubs' part.

 

[RGMSU]

Perhaps the AMA should withdraw their support from the healthcare reform proposals then. If the government isn't going to insure that we receive compensation sufficient for our trouble of treating patients on government plans, why in the world would we support an expansion of government influence in healthcare? So we can be underpaid for more patients? This was the first healthcare proposal that I thought actually indicated somebody understood how to solve some problems. Now, I have just seen that my temporary optimism was apparently misguided.

 

[MOHS_01]

Perhaps the AMA should withdraw their support from the healthcare reform proposals then. If the government isn't going to insure that we receive compensation sufficient for our trouble of treating patients on government plans, why in the world would we support an expansion of government influence in healthcare? So we can be underpaid for more patients? This was the first healthcare proposal that I thought actually indicated somebody understood how to solve some problems. Now, I have just seen that my temporary optimism was apparently misguided.

The AMA is a collective of impotent lapdog lemmings. They suck. Their act of submissive deference will not forever go unnoticed nor unpunished.

If they withdraw their support now, they supply both the fuel and the fire for persecution in BHO's modern day witch hunt -- the villification of anyone who would dare to stand in the way of his centralized power grab. They are fuc***, and they took us with them.

 

[edmadison]

You are all being tricked: DON'T FALL FOR IT.

The purpose of this bill is solely to pull 250 billion dollars of costs out of the healthcare "reform" proposal. This will make the 800 billion dollar plan look like a bargain at $550 billion. It's a ruse, solely to get the CBO to score the bill differently. That's why the Republicans are against it.

Ed

 

[deleted50478]

You are all being tricked: DON'T FALL FOR IT.

The purpose of this bill is solely to pull 250 billion dollars of costs out of the healthcare "reform" proposal. This will make the 800 billion dollar plan look like a bargain at $550 billion. It's a ruse, solely to get the CBO to score the bill differently. That's why the Republicans are against it.

Ed

More like making the 1.2 trillion dollar plan look like it is "paid for" by pretending it is 900 billion. Of course even the 900 billion is just a made up number that is almost certainly a gross underestimation.

How anyone can pretend anything is paid for when we have over $40 trillion in debt and unfunded socialist programs is beyond me. But then again I have some common sense/ I'm not a politician trying to sell lies.

 

[MOHS_01]

You are all being tricked: DON'T FALL FOR IT.

The purpose of this bill is solely to pull 250 billion dollars of costs out of the healthcare "reform" proposal. This will make the 800 billion dollar plan look like a bargain at $550 billion. It's a ruse, solely to get the CBO to score the bill differently. That's why the Republicans are against it.

Ed

Point # 1: Incorrect. The 250b pullout is just one of the accounting tricks used to make the 900b estimate not in excess of 1.2T. The true "cost" of 10 years of the program would be 2T or more -- and that is assuming that their projections are accurate (which history tells us will not be the case).

Point # 2: I believe that you give the Repubs way too much credit. Their response and explanation of yesterday's vote was quite telling, actually.

 

[womp]

Republicans went against it because they saw it as a chance to sabotage the health care reform bill.

It, however, does not speak well of the government's ability to manage health care when something like this is even politicized and also have to be clandestinely funded with deficit spending.

Both Democrats and Republicans come off looking bad in this.

 

[RGMSU]

Republicans went against it because they saw it as a chance to sabotage the health care reform bill.

It, however, does not speak well of the government's ability to manage health care when something like this is even politicized and also have to be clandestinely funded with deficit spending.

Both Democrats and Republicans come off looking bad in this.

I would say they sabotaged doctors. The healthcare reform bill will go forward. The question is whether there will be any meaningful attempt to deal with the looming Medicare reimbursement crisis. I don't have a problem with the temporary fixes, but what about the year when a temporary fix doesn't come, especially after they have passed a public option, put more patients on the government rolls, and have even more of a monopoly over pricing than they already do?

 

[MOHS_01]

Everyone does realize that this "permanent fix" was just stopping the cuts, not adjusting the conversion factor by the MEI as would be most appropriate, correct?

 

[RGMSU]

Everyone does realize that this "permanent fix" was just stopping the cuts, not adjusting the conversion factor by the MEI as would be most appropriate, correct?

Yes, but I thought stopping the cuts sounded like a step in the right direction to me.

 

[chessknt]

The AMA is a collective of impotent lapdog lemmings. They suck. Their act of submissive deference will not forever go unnoticed nor unpunished.

If they withdraw their support now, they supply both the fuel and the fire for persecution in BHO's modern day witch hunt -- the villification of anyone who would dare to stand in the way of his centralized power grab. They are fuc***, and they took us with them.

I dont think any respectable organization would directly attack the AMA, which most people see as America's doctors' voice (even though it isnt). We still have more respect than politicians, so it would be like a pot/kettle situation. Anything the AMA can do to help the public realize that Congress isnt doing **** to fix healthcare would be helpful.

Not like it matters in the end though, our political system has made it nigh impossible to achieve meaningful reform, regardless of which party controls what. There is just too much entitlement in our culture and not enough selfless politicians willing to get thrown under the bus to do the right thing (cant say I blame them either).