Six provider groups are criticizing Congress' plan to extend Medicare cuts to fund the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill.
Under the bipartisan infrastructure plan, the U.S. will use unspent funds from the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act and extend Medicare sequestration through 2031 to help fund the bill.
The federally mandated Medicare payment cuts initially were created in 2011 by the Budget Control Act to reduce federal spending by more than a trillion dollars. The cuts target all industries, but Medicare spending specifically is subject to a cut of 2 percent annually.
The six provider groups argue that extending sequestration could impose a "destabilizing element to healthcare access" and that Medicare funds should not be used to pay for nonhealthcare programs.
"The inclusion of the continuation of the mandatory Medicare sequestration in the bipartisan infrastructure framework as an offset for the agreement is not something we can support, and we ask you to remove it from the list of possible pay-fors," the six groups wrote. "Healthcare providers cannot sustain additional cuts to the Medicare program."
The six groups that signed the letter are: American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, American Health Care Association, National Association for Home Care & Hospice, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and Association for Clinical Oncology.