101Scout
06-30-2008, 08:27 PM
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Medicare fees to doctors to fall starting Tuesday
Monday, June 30, 2008
WASHINGTON - One unpleasant task lawmakers will have over the July 4 recess is explaining to seniors why they didn't stop a 10 percent fee cut, going into effect Tuesday, for doctors who treat Medicare patients.
Physicians have been running ads hinting that patients may find doctors less willing to treat them.
In a particularly vitriolic exchange, Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for what Dr. Nancy H. Nielsen, president of the American Medical Association, said has put the country "at the brink of a Medicare meltdown."
"Seniors need continued access to the doctors they trust. It's urgent that Congress make that happen," the AMA said in ads taken out in Capitol Hill newspapers read by members of Congress and their aides.
One near-certainty was that lawmakers, not willing to face millions of angry seniors at the polls in November, will act quickly when they return to Washington the week of July 7 to reverse the fee cut and provide retroactive payments to doctors for losses they incur after July 1.
Medicare fees to doctors to fall starting Tuesday
Monday, June 30, 2008
WASHINGTON - One unpleasant task lawmakers will have over the July 4 recess is explaining to seniors why they didn't stop a 10 percent fee cut, going into effect Tuesday, for doctors who treat Medicare patients.
Physicians have been running ads hinting that patients may find doctors less willing to treat them.
In a particularly vitriolic exchange, Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for what Dr. Nancy H. Nielsen, president of the American Medical Association, said has put the country "at the brink of a Medicare meltdown."
"Seniors need continued access to the doctors they trust. It's urgent that Congress make that happen," the AMA said in ads taken out in Capitol Hill newspapers read by members of Congress and their aides.
One near-certainty was that lawmakers, not willing to face millions of angry seniors at the polls in November, will act quickly when they return to Washington the week of July 7 to reverse the fee cut and provide retroactive payments to doctors for losses they incur after July 1.