Doctors to Congress: Don't cut our pay!

By Tami Luhby, senior writer


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Doctors aren't wasting any time lobbying lawmakers to stop a 23% cut in Medicare reimbursements set to kick in on Dec. 1.

The American Medical Association issued a statement on Election Day asking lawmakers to prevent the cut in fees from taking effect for 13 months. That same day, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released its payment schedule for 2011, when the reduction would widen to 25%.

Doctors have said that if the cut is enacted they may have to stop accepting Medicare patients. Some 43 million people, mostly senior citizens, receive Medicare benefits.

"Physicians are anxious about the future, and [are] making decisions now about how many Medicare patients they can see and their participation status in Medicare for next year," said Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, the association's president.

How Congress handles the so-called doc-fix measure, along with the looming Nov. 30 deadline to file for extended unemployment insurance, will be an early test of the new power structure in Washington and the new anti-spending sentiment in the Capitol. Lawmakers, who don't return until Nov. 15, will only have a few days in which to vote this month before recessing for the holidays.

Both deadlines have been extended multiple times this year as Congress tried to strike a balance between continuing programs and adding to the deficit. The most recent doc-fix -- which lasted six months and cost $6.4 billion -- was passed at the end of June.

But doctors and the unemployed may have to wait until the new Congress is seated in January to learn their fate, said Sarah Binder, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. There isn't much appetite on the Republican side to pass any bills before they take control of the House of Representatives. And lawmakers will be pretty wrapped up with what to do about the expiring Bush tax cuts.

Physicians are also asking Congress to overhaul the way that Medicare reimbursement rates are determined. A 1997 law requires that doctors' Medicare rates be adjusted each year based on the health of the economy, with the goal of keeping the program in the black. Payment cuts have now been blocked 10 times in the last eight years, including four times this year.

--An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that reimbursement rate changes have been blocked 10 times in the last eight years, including four times this year. Payments cuts were blocked, not reimbursement rate changes. To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.