Washington -- The Senate today gave overwhelming, bipartisanapproval to legislation to avert cuts in Medicare physician paymentupdates--the best outcome possible given the difficult circumstancesfacing us, Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP, president of the AmericanCollege of Physicians (ACP) said today. We implore President Bushto immediately sign this bill into law. The votes in both the Senateand House in favor of H.R. 6331 are more than enough to override apresidential veto, but we hope that it doesnt come to that. Now isthe time for the President to join with the large bipartisancongressional majorities who have listened to concerned patients anddoctors and made the right decision to support H.R. 6331.
Dr. Harris specifically said that ACP, wants to acknowledge thedifficult and courageous votes by the nine senators who reconsideredtheir earlier opposition to the bill and, this time, voted yes forpatient access to care. We also want to express our great appreciationto senators, like Senator Max Baucus, who stood with our patients andsupported this bill from the beginning.
Our 126,000-member organization is pleased that this long-awaitedaction has finally taken place, Dr. Harris noted. By garnering 69votes this afternoon compared to only 30 against, the vote is strongenough to overcome a possible presidential veto. The large bipartisanvotes by the Senate and the House for H.R. 6331 should clear the way forthe bill to become law, with or without the Presidents signature. Itwill continue current payment rates through the end of the year, ensuresa 1.1 percent update in 2009 instead of another scheduled cut, makesimprovements in payments for primary care services, and provides bettercoverage of preventive and mental health services. The measure, whichwas passed by the House of Representatives with a huge bipartisanmajority last month, was championed by the ACP.
Dr. Harris pointed out that the Senate vote, which followed approval ofan identical bill by the House of Representatives, is not the final stepto averting a scheduled 10.6 percent cut in Medicare physician payment.The bill will now go to the President for his signature, at which pointit would become law. If the President instead vetoes the bill, as someof his advisers have recommended, it would require a two-thirds majorityof both the Senate and House to override the veto. The Presidentsadvisers object to provisions in the bill that would reduce overpaymentsto Medicare managed care plans and rein in misleading marketingpractices by some.
We implore the President to reject the ill-considered advice that heveto this bill. H.R 6331 is an excellent bill that will halt acatastrophic collapse in patient access to physicians. It deserves hisimmediate signature, continued Dr. Harris. If necessary, though,we will ask both the House and Senate to override a presidentialveto, noting that both the House of Representatives and the Senatepassed the bill with enough votes to override a veto.
Once H.R. 6331 becomes law, Congress will be able to redirect itsattention from just stopping the cut to enacting comprehensivereforms to correct a broken physician payment system. We look forwardto working with Congress and the President on the changes that areneeded to once again make internal medicine and primary care the topchoices of our best and brightest young people, and to sustain thecommitted internists who are struggling to keep their practices openwhen Medicare doesnt even cover their overhead.
Source: American College of Physicians