U.S. Senate fails to vote on doctors’ fee plan
Action would replace discredited program
WASHINGTON – After a marathon session of voting on budget bill amendments, Senate leaders failed Friday to bring up a vote on a potentially groundbreaking compromise to fix Medicare’s system for paying doctors and to extend funding for a popular government health insurance program for children.
The inaction means Medicare will start processing a 21 percent cut in fees to physicians on Wednesday, though the reduced payments will not start hitting medical offices until the middle of next month.
Senators, meanwhile, will have to take up the stalled health care package after they return from their two-week recess April 13, one day before doctors will start to see the effects of the cut.
The legislation, which was negotiated by senior House Republicans and Democrats, won strong bipartisan support in the House, passing 392 to 37 on Thursday.
President Barack Obama has said he will sign the bill.
The new Medicare fee system would replace a widely discredited program, known as the Sustainable Growth Rate, that subjects physicians to nearly annual threats of fee cuts, which Congress has routinely voted to override.
The new system would impose more regular 0.5 percent fee increases over the next four years and create modest incentives to reward physicians who hit quality and efficiency targets.
Major medical groups, which have been pushing for a deal for years, called on senators Friday not to delay any further.