The Oklahoman: U.S. House passes bipartisan bill to fix system of paying Medicare doctors
The Oklahoman - Chris Casteel
In an extraordinary display of bipartisanship, the House voted Thursday to remake a troublesome system for paying the doctors who treat Medicare patients.
Primarily aimed at giving physicians some financial certainty each year, the legislation also will end the frequent last-minute congressional patches to a law that has caused problems for many years. The bill passed 392 to 37 and now goes to the Senate.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Tulsa, was the only one of the five Oklahomans in the House to oppose the bill. He did so, he said, because of an estimated increase of $130 billion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years.
“We cannot continue to solve every problem by adding to the deficit,” Bridenstine said.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who negotiated the compromise with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, of California, said, “Over the long term — the next 20, 30, 40 years — the bill will produce hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of durable savings for taxpayers.”
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said the legislation was preferable to the expensive short-term repairs of the past and reflects bipartisan commitment to reforming Medicare.
“Without immediate changes to the program, Medicare’s future and survival is uncertain,” Cole said. “By including...small steps to change the structure of the program, there is hope that we can protect its existence for generations to come.”
Congress created the current payment formula for physicians in 1997 and pegged it to some economic indicators that have fluctuated wildly, forcing Congress to step in at times to prevent cuts. Congress passed a “doc fix” last year to give physicians a small increase, but a major reduction was set to kick in next month.
The legislation passed Thursday offers stable increases for the next few years and the opportunity for doctors to sign up for pay based on performance.
The new delivery and payment system “will help improve care quality, health outcomes and lower costs,” according to the American Medical Association.
The bill also extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program through 2017, a provision applauded by the National Governors Association.
“CHIP is a critical source of health care coverage for children and pregnant women whose families earn too much to be covered by Medicaid, but too little to afford private insurance,” the association said.
“By including an extension of CHIP, this legislation provides much-needed certainty for states and stability for the millions of working families who rely on the program.”
How does it work?
The measure would cut costs and bring in more money by raising the premiums that relatively high-income Medicare recipients pay for their physician and outpatient services and prescription drugs. The bill also would expand the number of those subject to higher premiums. It would put new limits on Medigap policies to new Medicare enrollees in 2019 and cut planned payments for some hospital services.
A group called the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare criticized the deal, saying the Medicare premium hikes and changes would hit middle-class seniors, not just the wealthy.
“Millions of beneficiaries who depend on a Medigap plan to help pay their health care bills — no matter their income — will be hit with higher costs,” the group noted.
President Barack Obama, who supports the bill, said during a speech in Alabama on Thursday that he called Boehner and Pelosi to congratulate them for working together on necessary legislation.
Online:The Oklahoman