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Looming Cuts In Medicare Payments Raise Concern

(Carrie Feibel/KUHF Public Radio)
Doctors from the Harris County Medical Society met with Congressman Kevin Brady to plead for a permanent solution to the payment problem.  The Woodlands Republican sits on a joint Congressional committee that must decide what to do by the end of February.

“We know fewer and fewer doctors can afford to see our Medicare patients. In fact, fewer and fewer doctors can afford to run a practice with these uncertain payments. So what I’m looking for today is the ammunition to take back to Washington.”

The problem goes back to a 1997 law that automatically adjusts the Medicare payment rate for doctors. Because of a fixed formula, the payments went up for a few years, but then became payment cuts in 2002.

Doctors say that’s not fair, because their business costs have continued to rise. So every year, Congress has stepped in to block the cuts. Still, doctors haven’t seen an increase in ten years.
(Read/listen to more at KUHF Public Radio)

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