Is President Obama following through on his pledge or is something else really happening?
The Answer is probably both. Most of us agree that “productive” healthcare reform is needed. Most of us recognize that President Obama campaigned for Health Reform and is following through. Has anybody wondered why this is being ramrodded through the houses of Government to get done so fast? I have. I don’t presume that this is the answer, but I contend that the answers lie within GOOGLE, Yahoo, and MSN (bing!)
I encourage you to do variations of the following search on your favorite engine “ medicare reimbursement cut 2010 “
Under President Bush’s first term, significant legislation was passed with Medicare to control cost increases by assigning cost triggers that automatically reduce the reimbursement amounts paid to providers based on Medicare’s growth rate in excess of normal inflation. Since variations year to year would exist with delayed or skewed data, there are provisions that allow the reimbursement cut to be mitigated or delayed. Under the legislation, these delays phase out in greater magnitude from 2010 to 2015. Ah, politics at it’s best. The current administration takes credit for cost controls and get the next administration to pay for it.
So this is George Bush’s fault? Oooh…that makes it fun, right? Nope, On July 15, 2008, Congress overrode President Bush’s veto (H.R. 6331) that would have cut provider payments by 10.6% with stable payments for 12 months, and a 1.1% increase for 2009. Dern it, can’t blame bush here. Sorry.
So what about 2010? Will there be a 30% cut in Medicare payments as called for by law? Not if we tear up the rules and start from scratch. What happens if the cut if enacted? Refer to the search term and see what each physician group says.
