Sen. Cornyn Urges Colleagues To Join Him In Boosting Health Care Access For Medicare Beneficiaries

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 04 Jun 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, sent a letter to all of his Senate colleagues, urging them to support legislation he has introduced to ensure Medicare beneficiaries have increased access to quality, affordable health care. As it stands, physicians who offer Medicare are scheduled to have their reimbursement rates cut by 10.6 percent on July 1. This reduction, which physicians face annually under a federally mandated cap, is forcing many physicians in Texas and across the country to offer limited care or close their doors altogether to Medicare beneficiaries. According to a Texas Medical Association survey, the percentage of physicians who accept all new Medicare patients has declined to a historic low.

Sen. Cornyn's legislation, the Ensuring the Future Physician Workforce Act of 2008, would, first, prevent the payment cuts, then, eliminate the reimbursement cap and focus on securing a viable, future generation of physicians to provide improved health care at lower costs for patients. The legislation would take several steps to improve the physician-patient relationship and help patients better evaluate the care they receive.

Sen. Cornyn is hopeful his letter will spur wide support in the Senate for his common-sense approach to resolving this serious health care challenge before any more Medicare beneficiaries are turned away.

Full text of Sen. Cornyn's letter:

Dear Colleague:

As Congress moves to consider legislation regarding physician payment cuts scheduled to take effect on July 1st, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to consider permanently fixing the flawed system rather than enacting policy that merely applies a band-aid and further delays necessary Congressional action.

Healthcare costs in the United States have surpasses $2 trillion, almost $7,500 per person. In ten years, national healthcare expenditures are expected to reach $4.3 trillion, or $13,000 per person, which would comprise 19.5 percent of our gross domestic product. Clearly this rate is unsustainable. We must work together to develop creative solutions that will change the way we deliver health care. The goal should be to allow healthcare providers to develop treatment plans based on what is in the best interest of the patient. But, the current system under which we pay physicians neither puts patients first nor reduces costs.

A decade ago, instead of creating a mechanism that changed the way physicians deliver care, Congress attempted to curb rising health care costs through an arbitrary annual expenditure cap on physician payments. The result has been reimbursements lagging far behind physician costs, recently estimated at a 15 percent gap. The decline in reimbursements has led to a reduction in beneficiary access, lower quality care, little effect on spending, and the threat of a reduced physician workforce in the future.

The Ensuring the Future Physician Workforce Act of 2008 sets out to begin the process of changing our healthcare system by addressing the physician payment system. This bill is intended to provide positive reimbursement updates for providers; eliminate the ineffectual expenditure cap; increase incentives for physician data reporting; facilitate adoption of Health Information Technology (HIT) by addressing cost and legislative barriers; educate and empower physicians and beneficiaries in relation to Medicare spending and benefits usage; and study ways to realign the way Medicare pays for healthcare.

If you would like to co-sponsor this legislation please have your staff contact Martin Sobel (8-0996). Thank you for your attention to this matter.

http://cornyn.senate.gov/public