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United States News Title: Looming Medicare cuts "catastrophic" for seniors Looming cuts in Medicare payments to doctors could cause a “catastrophic” drop in health care services to seniors unless Congress approves a 13-month, $15.4 billion temporary fix this month, the president of the American Medical Association said Monday in San Diego. The pay cut scheduled to take effect Dec. 1 would reduce Medicare physician payments by 23 percent for the rest of the year and an additional 1.9 percent beginning in January. If the cuts are implemented, some doctors may be forced to limit the number of Medicare patients they see or face going out of business, said AMA President Dr. Cecil Wilson. “This crisis can only be prevented if Congress takes quick action to prevent this cut,” Wilson said at a news conference at the San Diego Marriot Hotel, where the association is holding its semiannual policy meeting this week. Medicare payments to physicians are calculated on a formula called “sustainable growth rates” approved by Congress in 1997. The amount is set each March, based on the gross domestic product. Every year since 2003, Congress has overridden the formula to prevent cuts to physician reimbursements. That happened again this year, when the formula translated into a 21.2 percent cut to physician payments. Three times last spring, Congress delayed implementing the cut. In June, lawmakers voted nearly unanimously to extend the same rates for six months and added a 2 percent payment increase for June-November. Both Republicans and Democrats call for an overhaul to the formula to help control escalating Medicare costs, particularly as the first baby boomers start qualifying for Medicare in January. But neither party has spelled out a long-term fix. The AMA’s call for a 13-month extension of the existing payment schedule includes a 1 percent increase in payments. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the cost of the proposal at $15.4 billion. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Monday that President Barack Obama viewed the issue as urgent, so physicians aren’t in limbo over how they will be paid. “On Thursday, I attended a Cabinet meeting where the president stressed that preventing these potentially disastrous cuts must be one of our top priorities,” she said in a speech at the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, D.C. “The American Medical Association has proposed a 13-month extension. And I hope that Congress will act quickly to pass it, so that our doctors and seniors can have some peace of mind while we work on a long-term fix,” she said. Whether Republicans will vote for another extension remains unclear, after campaigning during the November election for budget cuts to reduce the federal deficit. “Doctors throughout San Diego County would have found it difficult to accept patients with Medicare if the 21.2 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates would have gone into effect in June 2010,” said Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach. “To prevent these cuts, I joined a broad coalition of my colleagues to extend the Medicare reimbursement rates. “While this short-term fix was necessary, it is imperative that Congress act quickly to put in place a long-term solution. Otherwise many seniors could be left in fear of losing their doctors as another reimbursement crisis looms.” A spokesman for Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, R-Alpine said temporary fixes don’t address needed reforms. “The best approach is a permanent correction but, until that occurs, temporary patches are the only option,” said Hunter spokesman Joe Kasper. “ I must emphasize: A patch is only acceptable if the cost is fully offset and it does not add to the deficit.” The AMA’s campaign for a 13-month extension, rather than a shorter extension until Congress reconvenes next year takes advantage of a lame-duck session in which both the Senate and the House of Representatives are controlled by Democrats likely to follow the president’s lead. That will change next year, when Republicans assume the majority in the House. The Democratic leadership will put the Medicare physician cuts due to take effect Dec. 1 and Jan. 1 on the legislative agenda this month, spokesmen for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told Bloomberg News in e-mails Monday. Wilson said uncertainty over Medicare payments particularly threatens doctors whose practices included a large percentage of Medicare patients. “A poll earlier this year showed one out of five doctors is already limiting care to Medicare patients because of the threat of future cuts and Medicare mismanagement,” he said. During the three weeks in June when the extension had expired and a new one hadn’t yet been approved, surveys showed 57 percent of medical practices limited care to Medicare patients, Wilson said. Wilson said the AMA will launch a nationwide ad campaign to pressure Congress to take action before the Thanksgiving recess. Asked how the cost might be funded, Wilson said he didn’t underestimate the challenge but that it was the responsibility of Congress to find a way. “This is their responsibility,” he said.
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this will be a good test for the new Republican majority, do they keep the cuts and stick to their promise to cut spending, or do they rescind the cuts and add to the deficit? Pass the popcorn.....
they can't even find the testing center, and forgot their pencils, and the dog ate their homework. Meanwhile, as we lose our ability to operate nuclear power: Nov 8, 2010 Entergy Corp. shut its 1,020-megawatt Indian Point 2 reactor in New York after a transformer explosion, according to a report from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.“We will be investigating the explosion to try to determine the cause,” Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy, said in a telephone interview. The incident yesterday at 6:39 p.m. caused the reactor to automatically shut down.Jerry Nappi, a spokesman for the plant, said there was a replacement unit on site, which could lessen downtime for repairs. The failed unit was installed in 2006, contained PCB- free oil and was designed to last at least 30 years, Nappi said in a telephone interview.“Clearly there is an issue that needs to be looked at with what happened to this one because obviously it didn’t reach anywhere near that length,” Nappi said.
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