Several medical associations are asking the House of Representatives to support the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (H.R. 4213), which would help preserve access to physicians for millions of Americans in Medicare and TRICARE until 2014.
The AARP, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Osteopathic Association and Military Officers Association of America all say the legislation would “help restore the trust needed to build a healthcare system based on primary care.”
“For many patients, passage of this bill will help forestall the possibility that, on June 1, they may lose their physician because of the drastic 20-plus-percent reduction in physicians’ Medicare payments,” said AAFP President Lori Heim, MD. “Primary care physicians will increasingly be called on to care for Americans with improved access to health insurance.”
"If being a doctor is difficult, being a doctor while trying to keep a small business from running in the red is even more difficult. That is what those of us in private practice face every day," said Yul D. Ejnes, MD, chairman-elect of the ACP's board of regents and a practicing general internist in Cranston, R.I.
“We are confident that policies, such as those contained in H.R. 4213, will result in physicians continuing their participation in the Medicare program preserving access to care for our nation’s seniors and military families,” said Larry A. Wickless, DO, president of the AOA.
“H.R. 4213 would take a great step in the right direction by eliminating the immediate threat of large payment cuts that would cause many doctors to stop seeing military TRICARE patients,” said MOAA President Vice Admiral Norb Ryan, Jr. (USN-Ret). “The last thing troops in a combat zone should have to worry about is whether their sick spouse or child will be able to find a doctor.”