09.21.06

Cantwell: Senate Missed Important Opportunity to Stop Deep Cuts to Medicare Reimbursements

Senator’s proposal rejected by Republican leadership would have stopped planned cuts, helped physicians provide quality care to seniors

WASHINGTON, DC – Thursday, after Senate Republican leaders refused to pass her legislation undoing drastic reimbursements rate cuts to physicians who treat Medicare patients, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) vowed to continue the fight. Without Congressional action to allow more equitable physician reimbursements, rates will drop by an additional five percent in January 2007. When added to other projected cuts, rates will drop a total of 37 percent by 2015, undermining the ability of physicians to treat seniors effectively. Cantwell’s Affordable Access to Medicare Providers Act, introduced in July 2005 and rejected by Senate Republican leaders on Thursday, would provide stability in physician reimbursements without imposing additional costs on seniors.

“Current Medicare reimbursements barely cover overhead costs for physicians today, and the situation will only get worse if we don’t act,” said Cantwell. “We need to keep the doors to our health care system open to America’s seniors, and should not turn our backs on the physicians who treat Medicare patients. My bill would restore Medicare’s foundation, helping patients get the care they need and helping physicians do their job. We need stable, adequate reimbursement rates for doctors, and we need to keep premiums affordable for our country’s seniors. I will keep fighting to deliver seniors the care they desperately need.”

Cantwell’s proposal would replace scheduled reimbursement rate cuts of 5.1 percent with a two percent increase. Unlike other proposals to prevent payment cuts to doctors, Cantwell’s bill would not push the cost onto seniors. The legislation, if signed into law, would provide stability in physician Medicare payment rates, allowing physicians to continue to offer high quality healthcare services while ensuring that Medicare beneficiaries are not saddled with even higher premiums. The two percent increase called for in Cantwell’s legislation is based on recommendations by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission—an independent federal body established in 1997 to advise Congress on a broad range of Medicare-related issues.

In Thurston and Mason Counties, there are only six doctors who take Medicare, and 57 percent of Washington state physicians are limiting or dropping Medicare patients from their practices. Nationwide, 22 percent of patients already have some problems finding a primary care physician. After adjusting for inflation, Medicare payments to physicians in 2013 will be less than half of what they were in 1991, and Washington stands to lose $1.9 billion by 2014 if the current rate cuts continue—a $13,000 lost for each physician in the state, every year.

According to a 2006 American Medical Association survey, if predicted cuts go into effect, 45 percent of physicians plan to decrease the number of new Medicare patients they accept, and 50 percent plan to put off the purchase of new medical technology. In addition, 37 percent of those who treat rural patients plan to discontinue rural outreach services and 43 percent will decrease the number of new veterans they treat through the TRICARE program.

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