Florida Health News

Bush vetoes. UPDATE: Congress overrides

7/15/2008 © Florida Health News

Today, President Bush vetoed the Medicare reform act that the Senate passed last week, the Associated Press reported shortly before 1 p.m. The veto triggered an immediate 10.6 percent pay cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients, which will stand until both branches of Congress can hold a vote to override the veto. 

Florida doctors say such a steep cut will be a calamity if it’s in effect for long, because the state has the highest percentage of Medicare patients in the nation. The American Medical Association has estimated that the average Florida physician who treats Medicare patients would lose $25,000 in income next year if the pay cut stands. 

Physicians are exasperated. “I’m appalled at President Bush, that he could carry out something like this,” said pain specialist Deborah H. Tracy, president-elect of the Hernando County Medical Society. Tracy said 70 percent of her practice is Medicare patients. 

Supporters and opponents of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 scrambled to lobby as both branches of Congress mobilized to try to override the veto. During the time between the veto and the override votes, physicians’ claims for treatment of Medicare patients will presumably be reduced because a two-week hold on the pay cut, which took effect July 1, expired today.

Dr. Tracy

The presidential veto also protects a competitive bidding program for medical equipment in South Florida and Orlando, created as a means of reducing fraud and overpayments. It also reinstates full funding for Medicare Advantage, the health-plan part of the federal program for the elderly and disabled, which Congress had dinged slightly to restore funds for the doctors. The act took particular aim at “private fee-for-service,” the fastest-growing and highest-paid type of plan in the program. 

Bush and Republican members of Congress, including Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, have said they want to kill the pay cut but don't like the rest of the Medicare bill, especially the reduction in payments for certain Medicare Advantage plans. They say enrollees in such plans, which actuaries say cost taxpayers an average of 12 percent more than traditional Medicare, offer many benefits to their members, especially low-income seniors.

"I support the primary objective of this legislation, to forestall reductions in physician payments," Bush said in a statement. "Yet taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians is wrong." 

Both chambers of Congress were expected to move quickly to try to override the veto, with the House tackling it first.  The health insurance industry was lobbying to uphold the veto, while medical groups and the AARP have been pushing to override.

The rate cut is based on a formula that cuts doctors' pay when overall Medicare spending levels exceed certain targets. The bill that Bush vetoed would keep rates stable for the rest of the 2008 and raise them 1.1 percent next year. 

Questions? Contact Carol Gentry at 727-410-3266 or Carol.Gentry@FloridaHealthNews.org.