Budget Gimmicks and the “Doc Fix”
This is Michael Cannon, writing at the Cato@Liberty blog:
Back in 1997, Congress enacted automatic reductions in the price controls that Medicare uses to pay for physician services. Congress has delayed those cuts year after year… If the accumulated cuts were to take effect in 2012, as provided by current law, Medicare payments to physicians would fall by some 25 percent, and lots of seniors would find their doctor no longer accepts their Medicare coverage…
Enter President Obama’s FY2012 budget submission… The administration proposes to delay these cuts until 2014 at a cost of $54 billion. The administration proposes to pay for this additional spending by reducing the rate of spending growth in other areas of Medicare by $62 billion over the next 10 years.
Note that only 6 percent of these Medicare “cuts” will occur in 2012 and 2013. The other 94 percent of the “cuts”…would take effect after Barack Obama is no longer president.
To paraphrase the great J. Wellington Wimpy, “We’ll gladly pay you next year for free health care today.”
Good post. More sneaky bdget tricks from inside the Beltway.
Rick Foster, the Chief Actuary at CMS seems to be the only official in Washington who is worried about accurately describing the solvency of Medicare. Every Member of Congress knows if provider fees are cut to the extent that the Affordable Care Act stipulates, hospitals will close and doctors will convert to concierge practices that shun Medicare patients who cannot afford to pay retainer fees.
Helpful post. Thanks.
“Every Member of Congress knows if provider fees are cut to the extent that the Affordable Care Act stipulates, hospitals will close and doctors will convert to concierge practices that shun Medicare patients who cannot afford to pay retainer fees.”
How then do you cut costs so that Medicare is sustainable? I know, I know. Market mechanisms. But, if they work they way you promise, the end result will also be reduced provider fees. Why should we docs continue to practice or not practice based upon the method used to decrease fees? If your plan cuts Medicare w/o cutting provider fees, please explain.
Steve