Congress is working on scrapping their idiotic policy of tying Medicare reimbursement to physicians to economic growth. For years Congress has mandated that Medicare payments to doctors grow no faster than growth in the GDP, but it appears that will be changing soon.
It will cost billions of dollars to override required cuts in Medicare payments to doctors, but the perennial stopgap move is necessary to ensure that patients receive the health care they need, lawmakers said Tuesday.
A program set up in 1997 to put the brakes on federal Medicare spending sets annual and cumulative spending targets for physician reimbursements. When spending increases exceed economic growth, payments to doctors are supposed to be cut.
Under the system, payments to doctors would have to be cut by 5 percent a year through 2016 to meet program spending targets, according to federal estimates.
That is unlikely to happen. Lawmakers fear that any reduction in payments could add to the record increases in Medicare premiums and drive doctors from the program.
Rep. Michael Ferguson, R-N.J., said the mandated cuts system is “fatally flawed and it’s time we start writing its obituary today.”
Now, think about how stupid this policy actually was. Does the liklihood of a Medicare recipient getting sick have anything to do with economic growth? Certainly not. You’re no more or less likly to need heart surgery, cataract surgery, chemotherapy for cancer etc. depending on how the economy is doing. So it makes no sense to limit physician reimbursement based on that. And there’s no good reason not to pay doctors for taking care of patients who are legitimately ill. If a lot of patients happen to get sick in any given year, why should doctors get shafted? They’re doing their jobs taking care of patients who need medical attention.
So why is Congress working on making this needed policy change? Because doctors are dropping out of the Medicare program because they aren’t being compensated fairly, and Congress is concerned about Medicare patients not being able to find doctors to take care of them. I’d be a lot happier if Congress was concerned about health care providers not being adequately compensated by the government, but I suppose I should take whatever I can get.
