Congress May Address 2012 SGR Next Week
December 8, 2011 – Last week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) stated that Congress would pass legislation by December 16, to avert the 27.5% reduction of Medicare reimbursement to physicians. As quoted in Medscape Medical News, Rep. Phil Roe, MD (R-TC), vice chair of the GOP Doctors Caucus in the House, stated that legislation on other controversial issues might be “combined with a “doc fix” to the Medicare reimbursement crisis that would freeze rates at their current levels through 2013.” [1]
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He further went on to say that a 2-year fix would give lawmakers enough time to craft a replacement for the SGR formula for setting Medicare fee-for-service rates.
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Freezing Medicare rates through 2013 as opposed to reducing them would cost $38.6 billion over 10 years, according to an estimate issued last week by the Congressional Budget Office.
There will be more to come on this reimbursement issue.Â
