Senate Finance Committee Meeting Addresses Physician Payment Cut Fix; Party Divisions Remain

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 15 Nov 2007 - 9:00 PDT

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Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Tuesday said he would like to introduce a Medicare package this week, but committee members "indicated they are far from consensus on the basic components of the package," including language to delay a scheduled 10% reduction to Medicare physician fees, CongressDaily reports (Johnson, CongressDaily, 11/14). Democrats favor a two-year Medicare physician fee fix, while Republicans support a one-year fix, according to CQ HealthBeat.

Baucus after a committee meeting on Tuesday said there is "more comfort with two years now," but "there's not a consensus yet." Baucus noted Congressional Budget Office figures that show two one-year stops in fee reductions are "more expensive than one two-year" fix. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said a two-year fix appears to be more likely, but no final decision has been made.

However, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said he believes Baucus "misread" Republicans' support for a two-year fix. Kyl said the focus of the meeting was on what committee members wanted to do about increased spending, not payment cuts that would be needed to offset the costs of that spending, CQ HealthBeat reports. He added, "It's fairly easy to be upbeat" about a plan when offsets are not part of the discussion (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 11/13). According to CongressDaily, several committee members discussed a future "cliff" for physician payments that would require a larger fee cut in two years.

Committee members also discussed other provisions of the Medicare package, including $500 million over five years for "comparative effectiveness" studies; Medicare savings programs under the prescription drug benefit; and Medicare subsidies for rural areas and low-income beneficiaries, according to Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who also sits on the Finance Committee. CongressDaily reports that no one "likes the list of offsets to cover the package," including cuts to home oxygen providers, home health care, some pharmacies and private Medicare Advantage plans (CongressDaily, 11/14).

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