U.S. Senate Passes Delay to Medicare Payment Cut

Dec 21, 2009
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The decision was attached to the defense appropriations bill, H.R. 3926.  This delay gives Congress two more months to work out a long-term solution to Medicare's Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) problem.  Virtually every year for the past decade, Congress has repeatedly stepped in to halt Medicare cuts to physicians using short-term "patches" that do not solve the underlying problem of the flawed formula.
 
In November, the House passed legislation, H.R. 3961 - the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act, that would eliminate Medicare's SGR formula and take steps to replace the formula with a more appropriate and stable payment system. The Senate has yet to consider H.R. 3961.