News in brief - March 14, 2005

MedPAC finalizes physician pay advice - High court won't revisit Roe v. Wade - Medicare preventive care lagging - Health issues not big election issue

MedPAC finalizes physician pay advice

The panel that advises Congress on Medicare reimbursement levels officially called for physicians to receive an estimated 2.7% boost in their base rate next year.

The annual March report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission lays out payment recommendations that the group approved at its January meeting. If Congress follows MedPAC's advice, doctors would receive an update based on medical inflation minus a set percentage for an expected rise in physician productivity. If lawmakers fail to act before the end of the year, physicians will see a projected 5.2% cut in their Medicare payments in 2006.

The American Medical Association and MedPAC have called for Congress to scrap the current formula that helps determine physician pay.

High court won't revisit Roe v. Wade

The U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal last month to reopen Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 lawsuit that legalized abortion.

Norma McCorvey, the Texas woman who was identified as "Jane Roe" when her initial lawsuit went to trial, had asked the court to overturn its original ruling after changing her opinion on abortion. She said her decision was based on what is now known about a baby's development, the change in societal views on unwed mothers, and studies on the long-term effects of abortion on women.

Last fall, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that the case should not be reopened, saying the issue is moot because the Texas law criminalizing abortion that was at the center of McCorvey's original lawsuit has long been repealed.

Medicare preventive care lagging

Although most Medicare beneficiaries visit a physician regularly, the majority who do so are not receiving all recommended preventive services, such as flu and pneumonia vaccinations, according to a data analysis by the Government Accountability Office. Millions of beneficiaries also may be unaware that they have health conditions, such as high cholesterol, that Medicare-covered screenings are meant to detect.

The January 2005 launch of an initial physical for new Medicare enrollees could begin addressing some of these shortfalls, GAO says. "Covering a one-time preventive care examination does not ensure, however, that beneficiaries will receive the recommended preventive services they need over the long term or consistently improve health or lower costs," the report states.

Health issues not big election issue

Health care was a second-tier issue in the 2004 election, according to a review of pre-election and election day polls. The topic fell behind such subjects as moral values, the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq, according to the study published online by Health Affairs.

"The candidates' positions on health care issues had relatively little effect on voting behavior either because the issues were not seen as salient enough or because the candidates' positions were not articulated well enough," said Robert Blendon, ScD, a Harvard University health policy professor and one of the study's authors.