Tell Congress to pass long-term physician payment reform
The Medicare physician payment system is hopelessly broken. When adjusted for inflation, Medicare payments to physicians have plummeted by 33% since 2001. In the past five years alone, Congressional inaction has led to repeated payment cuts, compounding the financial pressure on physician practices.
While Congress recently passed its reconciliation package—the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act"—which includes a temporary 2.5% physician payment increase in 2026, it fails to address the root problem: the lack of a long-term, sustainable solution. Take action now.
Unlike other health care providers, physicians are the only group that do not receive automatic, annual inflationary updates tied to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI). As costs rise and the number of Medicare patients grows, physician payment continues to fall behind—forcing many practices to operate at a loss or close altogether.
America's physicians and patients deserve better: the current path of temporary one-year "fixes" is simply not sustainable—many physician practices are hanging on by a thread. Without meaningful reform, many struggling practices will be forced to make the hard decision of operating at a loss or closing their doors forever—like so many of their colleagues have already done.
It is time for Congress to act. Please contact your legislators today and urge them to move beyond the yearly short-term “fixes” and work together to advance legislation permanently tying physician payment to the MEI to help stabilize physician practices and protect patient access to care.
America's physicians are counting on Congress to provide this much-needed relief and work toward achieving long-term Medicare physician payment reform.
More articles in this issue
- Aug. 1, 2025: Advocacy Update spotlight on pharmacy benefit managers under scrutiny
- Aug. 1, 2025: National Advocacy Update
- Aug. 1, 2025: State Advocacy Update
