Finding the $54 billion needed to fund a proposed two-year Medicare physician fee-fix in President Obama's budget will be challenging at a time when Congress is intent on spending reductions, according to a report by Kaiser Health News.
The president's budget proposes to postpone an automatic 25 percent cut in fees that would go into effect in Jan. 2012. The fee-fix would be funded by a variety of sources, including cutting federal Medicaid funding, switching to generic drugs and reducing waste, fraud and abuse.
Some analysts predicted the needed funds would not materialize as Congress struggles with cutting the budget and interest groups oppose the cuts. "I don't think anything meaningful will come from any of this," a representative of the American College of Emergency Physicians said, referring to the proposed fee-fix. "The intensity of the debate right now is on the debt and the deficit."
However, the American Medical Association praised the proposal, saying it would stop "devastating cuts …for another two years, which is important for providing stability in the Medicare system while a permanent solution is enacted."
Read the Kaiser Health News report on the fee-fix.
Read more coverage of efforts to extend the physician fee-fix.
-Upcoming Fee Fix Would Mean Squeezing Hospital, Physician Payments
-House Almost Unanimously Passes Permanent Physician Fee-Fix
-Senate Approves One-Year Medicare Fee-Fix
The president's budget proposes to postpone an automatic 25 percent cut in fees that would go into effect in Jan. 2012. The fee-fix would be funded by a variety of sources, including cutting federal Medicaid funding, switching to generic drugs and reducing waste, fraud and abuse.
Some analysts predicted the needed funds would not materialize as Congress struggles with cutting the budget and interest groups oppose the cuts. "I don't think anything meaningful will come from any of this," a representative of the American College of Emergency Physicians said, referring to the proposed fee-fix. "The intensity of the debate right now is on the debt and the deficit."
However, the American Medical Association praised the proposal, saying it would stop "devastating cuts …for another two years, which is important for providing stability in the Medicare system while a permanent solution is enacted."
Read the Kaiser Health News report on the fee-fix.
Read more coverage of efforts to extend the physician fee-fix.
-Upcoming Fee Fix Would Mean Squeezing Hospital, Physician Payments
-House Almost Unanimously Passes Permanent Physician Fee-Fix
-Senate Approves One-Year Medicare Fee-Fix