On July 15, 2008, Congress overrode President Bush's veto of legislation that would stave off a 10.6 percent reduction in Medicare physician payments that was to take effect on July 1 and increase physician pay by 1.1 percent in 2009. In addition to physician payment changes, the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008” (MIPAA) (H. 6331) will decrease payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. The override vote was 70 to 26 in the Senate and 383 to 41 in the House. The Senate had passed the legislation with a veto-proof 69 to 30 after the House passed the bill with a veto-proof margin of 355 to 59.
After the Senate failed to pass the bill earlier this month, the Bush administration agreed to delay until July 15 paying physicians at the lower rate while lawmakers were home for the July 4 recess. The administration, however, made clear that it opposed reductions in MA payments included in the bill, saying they would “fundamentally change the private fee for service program and consequently reduce access, benefits, and choices for many of the approximately 2.25 million beneficiaries who have chosen to enroll in private fee-for-service plans, many of whom live in rural areas.”
MIPAA blocks pending cuts scheduled under the sustainable growth rate payment formula through December 31, 2009; extends the 0.5 percent increase in the fee schedule conversion factor for 2009; and provides a 1.1 percent update in the conversion factor for 2009. In addition, MIPAA requires nearly all MA private fee-for-service plans to contract with a network of health care providers to continue to operate in an area that has two or more networked plans. The Medicare Advantage Stabilization Fund will be reduced from $1.79 billion to a balance of $1 to offset the costs of this change.
CCH Washington Bureau, July 9, 2008.
Visit our News Library to read more news stories.
