Medicare physician pay cut again in play

Because the deficit panel's prospects are increasingly dim, efforts to intervene to prevent a 27 percent reduction in Medicare physician payment are becoming increasingly dire.   

Politico Pro: Pay Cut For Docs Looms As Debt Panel Flops
The challenge of stopping a brutal Jan. 1 cut in payments for doctors who treat Medicare patients may have just gotten a lot harder. With a big super committee deal pretty much out of the question, both parties have been trying to forge a small-scale plan that limits sequestration -; and as of Sunday night, they were struggling to do even that. It appears unlikely that a short-term "doc fix" will be part of the mix. If the super committee reports that it can't reach a deal -; or that it has a small deal that doesn't include a fix -; the committees will have only about five weeks to pass a bill to thwart a 27-percent cut called for by the Sustainable Growth Rate (Haberkorn and DoBias, 11/21).

Health News Florida: 27% Pay Cut Unlikely: Experts
Every year, doctors in Florida and around the U.S. sweat out possible deep cuts to their Medicare payments. ... The price tag on a long-term fix constantly rises--it's now at an estimated $350 billion -- so lawmakers install short-term fixes. The current fix will expire Dec. 31, and the formula will kick in if nobody acts ... Doctors argue that they couldn't support their offices under such cuts and would be forced out of the Medicare program, leaving seniors stranded (Davis, 11/18).