June 28, 2010
While the rhetoric surrounding “Healthcare Reform” has calmed a bit since the passing of the Affordable Health Care for America Bill in March, there’s no doubt it still touches a nerve when the topic arises. I would like to avoid any controversy & instead suggest Legislative Reform. This past Friday afternoon, President Obama signed into law the “doc fix” that delays for six months a 21.3% cut in Medicare reimbursements to physicians and instead provides a 2.2% increase. On the surface this seems like quite the victory. Who can argue with a raise, right?
Well the path that led healthcare providers to this point has been occuring for over a decade now. The significant cut in the fee schedule was put into law by Congress as part of a larger 1990s budget cutting act. That is it has not been a secret & it’s been on the horizon for over a decade. Fortunately, Congress has routinely waived the schedule cuts & implement minor increases over the years. Every six to twelve months our “leaders” in Congress overwhelmingly support a bill & talk about how we need a PERMANENT FIX to the unintended consequence of a budget cutting act passed over a decade ago. For example, President Obama in signing the latest legislation quipped “Kicking these cuts down the road just isn’t an adequate solution to the problem. The current system of recurring cuts and temporary fixes was passed into law more than 10 years ago. It’s untenable.” Low and behold the temporary fix expiration dates come & go and we’re back to square one.
I thought this was just a problem within healthcare, however, earlier this year I had the opportunity to do a Fly In to the US Chamber of Commerce. Several issues were discussed and I was frustrated to learn that many issues facing transportation, education, etc face these same temporary fixes. It appears this is ”business as usual” in Washington. Perhaps I’m a bit naive, but why are our politicians afraid to make a decision. Shouldn’t twelve years be enough to fix a minor flaw in a formula that was part of a larger bill. Legislating in this temporary reactionary way is an unsustainable way of running a country (sound familiar?). How about Legislative Reform?
7560 Gardner Park Drive
Gainesville, VA 20155
Phone: (703) 753-1005
Fax: (703) 753-2207
Good for you……. I too am very frustrated with the lack of true Medicare reform. I think Congress should be forced to take Medicare at age 65 and I bet the legislative issues will resolve much more quickly. Keep the pressure on congress.