House Vote Endangers Seniors’ Health
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Today the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a Senate bill that would have kept Medicare reimbursements at their current level for at least a couple of months. If an agreement isn’t reached by the end of the year, a whopping 27 percent cut in what physicians’ receive for treating Medicare patients will go into effect on January 1.
How did this happen? Well, back in 1997, Congress adopted a formula to slow the rate of Medicare spending. It is called the “sustainable growth rate,” or SGR. The measure tied the rate of increase in Medicare reimbursement rates to the Gross National Product (GNP). That way, Medicare costs would not grow faster than the economy.
This was fine, as long as the economy was growing briskly. But then that growth slowed. Beginning in 2003, every year Congress votes a “doc fix” to defer the cuts.
Most of those years, the “doc fix” vote was uncontroversial. But last year Republicans in Congress balked, and the “doc fix” bill wasn’t passed until December. And now, as the year is coming to an end, House Republicans again have rejected a bill that contained the “doc fix.”
And here’s the kicker — the Senate already has adjourned for the rest of the year. The eight years of deferred cuts have snowballed into a 27 percent cut.
If the cuts are not deferred, after January 1 many doctors may refuse to see Medicare patients. This could put the health of many Americans at risk. This includes most Americans stricken with mesothelioma. Because this deadly cancer takes decades to develop, it is usually diagnosed when the patient has passed the age of 50.
The bill in question had three parts. One is an extension of this year’s payroll tax cut. Payroll taxes are the FICA taxes taken out of paychecks to pay for Social Security and Medicare. The second part is an extension of unemployment benefits. The third part is the “doc fix.”
These three extensions would only have been for two months. The legislators had been struggling with the bill for weeks, and were at an impasse. On Saturday the Senate passed a bill with a two-month extension, promising to revisit the bill when Congress reconvenes in January. But yesterday the House of Representatives rejected the bill, with all but seven House Republicans, and no Democrats, voting against the measure.
The House Republicans want more concessions from the Obama Administration, such as relaxation of environmental protection rules. They have said they don’t like the extensions, especially the one that continues the payroll tax cut. They want something in exchange for their votes. Apparently, they think Democrats and the Obama Administration will give them whatever they want in order to prevent disaster.
But the Democrats are not budging. They thought they had a deal on Saturday, they said. Seniors may want to get any planned medical procedures done before the end of the year.
