11-5-09 New House bill would prevent Medicare doctors’ payments from decreasing in 2010
A new bill in the House would prevent a decrease in Medicare payments for doctors’ services scheduled for 2010. According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), preventing this payment decrease would cost $210 billion over the next ten years.
Under current law, Medicare’s payment rates for doctors’ services will be decreased by about 21 percent next year. The CBO estimates that the rates will be reduced by about 2 percent annually for the next few years after that. This new bill, Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, would prevent this decrease.
The Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act was originally part of the House Democrats’ big health care reform bill, but was turned into a separate piece of legislation. If both the House health care bill and Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act become law, the total cost would be around $1.41 trillion.
Source:
Congressional Budget Office cost estimate http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10704/hr3961.pdf
