Congressional Super Committee Fails to Reach Agreement November 21, 2011 Advocacy, Medicaid, Medicare Medicare cuts, Medicare physician payments, Super Committee 0 Today, the Joint Congressional Committee on Deficit Reduction (otherwise known as the Super Committee) declared defeat and will not reach agreement on a package to reduce spending by $1.5 trillion. A statement from the panel's co-chairs said that “after months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee's deadline.” What does this mean for physicians? The law now requires across-the-board spending cuts—called sequestration—that will begin January 1, 2013. Many members of Congress may try to undo the sequestration deal because the military takes 50% of the cuts. However, both Republican and Democratic Congressional leaders have reiterated their support for the original deal that requires sequestration. Therefore, on January 1, 2013 next year, Medicare will reduce physician payments by 2% because of the sequestration agreement. The entire Medicare program will take a 2% cut, including GME, Medicare Advantage, and other programs within Medicare. The Medicaid program is protected from cuts under the sequestration agreement. What about 2012? There will not be a complete repeal of the Medicare SGR payment formula this year. The 27.4% Medicare SGR payment cut still looms on January 1, 2012. Now that the Super Committee agreement has gone down, Congress will turn their attention to several significant issues that they must address before the end of the year, including extending Unemployment Insurance funding, extending the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), extending the payroll tax cut and eliminating the 27.4% Medicare physician payment cut before January 1, 2012. The good news is that there are several large issues that Congress must address before the end of the year and the leaders have listed the Medicare physician payment cut as a major priority. What you can do to help Please keep calling, writing, and meeting with your local legislators. It is imperative that we stop the 27% cut BEFORE January 1, 2012. Use the AMA Grassroots Hotline at (800) 833-6354; plug in your zip code and it will automatically connect you to your Representative/Senator. Comments are closed.
