Congress used special methods over the past two days to approve a bill that would defer a 10 percent Medicare payment cut for doctors scheduled to begin Jan. 1.
The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007, unanimously approved by the Senate and approved by two-thirds of the House, would replace the scheduled 10.1 percent cut to the Medicare physician reimbursement rate in 2008 with a one-half percent increase through June 30, 2008.
The bill also includes a number of other extensions for physician payments and fully funds an extension of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) at what the Senate Finance Committee said was "a level sufficient to avoid state shortfalls and retain coverage for all currently insured children through March 31, 2009."
The bill is expected to cost approximately $6 billion and is designed to be budget neutral, according to the Senate Finance Committee. A staffer for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce said Congress would not have passed the bill if they didn't hope to meet the president's approval. President Bush vetoed two other bills to refund SCHIP this year.
The new bill would provide a one-year extension of the Special Diabetes Programs for Type 1 and Native Americans at the current funding level through Sept. 30, 2008. It would also provide incentives for doctors to practice in scarcity areas, pays for pathology services, funds lab tests in rural areas and includes a number of other hospital and physician payment provisions.
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Congress must "move boldly" early next year to make the fixes permanent and "change Medicare in a smart and fiscally responsible way."
Edward Langston, MD, board chair of the American Medical Association said AMA is pleased to have some relief but is looking for a permanent and more substantial fix. "We strongly urge Congress to break the tradition of short-term interventions that are not fully funded and fail to chart a course for replacing a flawed payment formula that is a barrier to improving quality and access to care for seniors," Langston said.
Langston applauded Congress for taking action to renew SCHIP. "Continuation of this important program is critical to ensuring that all America's children have access to needed health care services," Langston said. "During this holiday season, the renewal of SCHIP is a true gift to families in need."
Earlier this year, Congress tried to override President Bush's veto of a bill that would have increased funding for the SCHIP program by $35 billion over the next five years. That bill would have provided funding sufficient enough to cover all 6.6 million children currently enrolled and to expand to cover an additional 3.3 million low-income children.
This story was edited from its original version at 4:30pm on Wednesday, Dec. 19.