Bunning Still Blocking Extension of Medicare Reimbursement

By bmartin on March 2, 2010 10:45 AM | Permalink

Senator Bunning (R-KY) remains steadfast in his one-person crusade to block the passage of a bandaid bill that would extend unemployment benefits and highway funds and thwart drastic cuts to Medicare reimbursements. This morning, Bunning again blocked the Senate from taking up the measure for a vote, despite the fact that a fellow Republican, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, requested passage of a 30-day bill extension.

According to the LA Times, 41 transportation projects have been suspended, thousands of highway workers have been furloughed, and the benefits for about 100,000 unemployed Americans expired as of yesterday, because an extension was not passed. The 21% drop in Medicare reimbursement has been postponed, because the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) are delaying the processing of March claims.*

With respect to the Medicare cuts, James Rohack, MD, President of the American Medical Association said, "The Senate had over a year to repeal the flawed [SGR] formula that causes the annual payment cut and instead they abandoned America's seniors, making them collateral damage to their procedural games. Physicians are outraged because the cut, combined with the continued instability in the system, will force them to make difficult practice changes including limiting the number of Medicare patients they can treat."

Selected comments from practicing physicians at the AMA web site indicate that the drop in Medicare reimbursement will cause many physicians to dramatically reduce or eliminate Medicare patients from their practices. Practices that cater chiefly to elderly patients are likely to fold altogether.

According to USA Today, Senate Democrats are "planning an end-run around the unemployment and health benefits bill" by creating legislation that will extend benefits to the end of 2010. The stopgap measure, which would be retroactive, is due to come up for a vote next week.

* According to the American Academy of Neurology, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) extended its grace period for processing March claims from the 10th to the 17th. The CMS extension is made in anticipation of any retroactive legislation that will stave off Medicare cuts.

Update: In late developments, Bunning has relented and will allow a Senate vote tonight on the extension bill, reports USA Today.

03/03/10 update: Last night, President Obama signed a bill that enables an extension of the current Medicare reimbursement rates to April 1st, reports Medscape. A small poll at the website indicates that 65% of 40 physician respondents would stop or cut back on seeing Medicare patients, if the 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement had gone into effect. Medscape also reports that Senate Democrats are working on a longer-term fix, the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act, which would delay the SGR formula-defined cuts in Medicare reimbursement to October 1st. Permanent fixes, specifically a House measure that repeals the SGR formula, are also in the works—although any such bill would add considerably to the federal deficit.