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Senate fails to spare doctors from Medicare cuts
Senate bill to spare doctors from cuts in Medicare payments doesn't pass in time

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press
Last updated: 4:02 p.m., Friday, June 18, 2010
WASHINGTON -- The Senate passed legislation Friday to spare doctors a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments -- but the last-ditch effort did not come in time.

     
Moments after the Senate acted, Medicare announced it would begin processing claims it has already received for June at the lower rate. The reason: the House cannot act on the fix until next week.

That means doctors, nurse practitioners, physical therapists and other providers who bill under Medicare's physician fee schedule will have to resubmit their claims if they want to be made whole, with added paperwork costs both for the providers and for taxpayers.

"Congress is playing Russian roulette with seniors' health care," Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement. "This is no way to run a major health coverage program."

The affected bills cover the early part of this month. An earlier congressional reprieve expired May 31. Medicare had been holding off on processing claims in the hopes lawmakers would act, but the agency said it can no longer do that without hurting doctors' cash flow.

The Medicare cuts are required under a 1990s budget-cutting law that Congress has routinely waived. This time, lawmakers' concerns about adding to the deficit held up a deal to allow an exception to enforcement of the law.