2010-02-11
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and
Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA) released a draft of the Hiring
Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act. The HIRE Act provides $85 billion in tax cuts and spending provisions that are intended to spur
employment. Included in the draft HIRE
Act is a seven-month extension of the sustainable growth rate update
formula. Without this fix, physicians participating in Medicare face a 21
percent reduction in payments beginning March 1, 2010. The seven-month extension
would expire October 2010, once again requiring new legislation to be passed to
avert the cuts. The rationale behind a
seven-month extension is that it would give lawmakers time to develop a
longer-term solution to the Medicare physician payment problem.
Earlier, the Senate and House of Representatives passed HJ
Resolution 45, a resolution to raise the federal debt limit, and included
in the resolution a way to help pay for Medicare physician payments. Passage of HJ Resolution 45 still required
Congress to enact separate legislation to stop the physician payment cuts prior
to March 1, 2010.
Complicating matters, however, is Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid (D-NV), who favors a different scaled-down jobs bill and rejected the Finance Committee proposal.
Majority Leader Reid’s proposal does not include Medicare
physician payment adjustments and other health provisions, but would address
them in a separate measure.
Debate and votes on the jobs bill and physician
payment measures are expected when the Senate returns from its President’s Day
recess the week of February 22.
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