News

November 20, 2009

House votes to aid docs

House approves adding $200 billion to deficit to head off deep cuts in Medicare.

ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House voted Tuesday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff.

The measure, approved on a near party-line vote of 243 to 183, is a top priority for the American Medical Association. The GOP contended that Democrats supported the bill to thank the doctors group for backing President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

Doctors are facing a 21 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursement rates in January unless Congress acts first, the result of a flawed funding-formula that lawmakers have had to step in nearly annually to block in recent years.

The bill passed Thursday attempts a permanent fix by restructuring the payments to factor in how much doctors spend on various services, among other changes.

Past votes on the issue have been largely bipartisan, but this year the doctor payment issue has become a proxy for the larger health overhaul debate. Only one Republican voted “yes” Thursday, Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas, an obstetrician. Eleven Democrats voted “no.”

Despite intense lobbying by the AMA, the doctor payment legislation failed in the Senate last month.

Tweet	Follow @TLnews