Medicare double-delay: Senate fails to act, CMS holds physician claims

The government won't process doctors' Medicare claims until July 15 to give lawmakers more time to pass legislation stopping pay cuts.

By David Glendinning, AMNews staff. July 14, 2008.

Washington -- Congress ran out of time to reverse the 10.6% Medicare pay cut to doctors before leaving town for a week-long recess, sparking outrage from physician organizations that have been calling for action for the past six months.

Senate Democratic leaders on June 26 couldn't muster enough votes to consider final approval of a bill that would have eliminated the cut and provided a 1.1% pay increase in 2009. The House on June 24 overwhelmingly passed that measure.

Senate backers of the bill needed 60 votes to cut off debate, but they got only 59, with most Republicans voting against the motion. Because the procedure was the last vote scheduled on the issue before senators left for their holiday recess, the motion's failure meant that the 10.6% cut officially went into effect July 1.

The day before that, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that payment rates in 2009 would drop by an estimated 5.4% if Congress does not approve a solution that covers next year's payment schedule as well.

Most Senate Republicans and President Bush opposed the bill because it would have paid for the physician pay provisions by slashing payments to Medicare private health plans. American Medical Association President Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, said their decision put doctors "at the brink of a Medicare meltdown."

"The physicians of America are outraged that a group of Republican senators followed the direction of the Bush administration and voted to protect health insurance companies at the expense of America's seniors, disabled and military families," she said. "These senators leave for their Fourth of July picnics knowing that the most vulnerable Americans are at risk because of the Senate's inability to act to stop drastic payment cuts for health care services that are needed by our Medicare and TRICARE patients."