Medicare Physician SGR 21% Reduction Postponed 2 Months
American Health Lawyers Assocaition has reported:
President Obama Signs into Law a Temporary Fix to Physicians' Medicare Reimbursement
By Jeffrey Moore , Phelps Dunbar LLP
On December 19, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Department
of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (H.R. 3326), into law, which freezes Medicare physician payments for two months, avoiding a 21% payment cut to physicians' Medicare reimbursement scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2010. The House previously approved H.R. 3326 on December 16, 2009, while the United States Senate passed H.R. 3326 on December 19, 2009.
Because the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010, is only a temporary fix to the Medicare physician payment issue, Congress will be forced to address this payment issue in early 2010, as the Medicare physician payment cuts are set to go back into effect on March 1, 2010.
March 1st is right around the corner, what is the status of this postpone cut? I haven't heard anything more about a permanent fix so I suspect they'll kick the ball down the road again. Any buzz about this issue?
March 1, 2010 is the date set to decrease payment by 21% to doctors. My husband and I are on Medicare and live in Sun City Center, Florida. Should this go into effect, doctors will no longer be able to afford to treat us. Many doctors here in Florida have Medicare patients and will end up moving out of state. We will be left with a huge shortage of doctors, if any. We ask you to please not pass this reduction of benefits to our doctors. They already have to work double the hours in order to keep afloat.