When Congress returns next week, we’ll have a very small window to prevent the Medicare physicians pay cut from going into effect. We’re already on borrowed time. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is exercising an administrative 10-day delay of the cut. That’s a one-time-only proposition.

At a minimum, Congress should approve a 31-day extension of existing physician payment law. An extension would prevent the cut from going into effect and give Congress one more chance to enact a bipartisan long-term policy.

What will it take to get an extension approved? The Democratic leaders have to stop trying to blame Republicans for the stalemate. They’re in the majority, and they’re responsible for producing a bill that can pass and become law.  Instead, they’ve taken an our-way-or-the-highway approach with a bill the President would veto.  Adding to the tension, the American Medical Association has aligned itself with the Democratic leaders’ politics rather than work constructively toward achieving good policy for Medicare beneficiaries.

I hope everyone has had a chance to cool off from the heated partisanship that marked this debate before the July 4th recess. If the pay cut goes into effect, doctors might stop serving Medicare patients, and those patients will face hardship in getting the access they need. Doctors and patients will blame the entire Congress, Democrat and Republican alike.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Politics, Healthcare .