Doc fix, health program extenders still on Congressional agenda

News outlets report on the health issues and programs that remain on the Capitol Hill to-do list, as well as how some GOP lawmakers might look to the health law's insurance subsidies as a way to pay for a planned payroll tax cut extension.

CQ HealthBeat: Hatch, Baucus Weigh In On Doc Fix, Tavenner
The top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday he wants to find a permanent fix for the Medicare physician payment formula, even it means adding to the national debt if Congress can't come up with offsets. But Sen. Orrin G. Hatch said he expects lawmakers will end up opting for a short-term patch. Hatch, R-Utah, told HealthBeat that he'd like to eliminate the problematic Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). Under that formula, doctors are scheduled to get a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments on Jan 1 (Reichard, 11/29).

Modern Healthcare: Lawmakers Urged To Extend Health Programs
In a letter Tuesday to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee, AHA Executive Vice President Richard Pollack emphasized that it is hard for the nation's hospitals to plan for both patient and community needs when the future of a health care program is uncertain. He then listed several of programs that AHA would like to see extended this year, including Medicare cost payments for clinical diagnostic lab tests in certain rural areas, the outpatient hold-harmless provision for rural hospitals and sole community hospitals, and ambulance add-on services (Zigmond, 11/29).

The Hill: Hospitals: Health Care 'Extenders' Must Pass By Year's End
Hospitals pressed Congress on Tuesday to extend a series of policies set to expire at the end of the year. Although stakeholders have been focused on the year-end deadline for patching Medicare's payment system, Congress also must act by the end of the year on several other health care "extenders" or let the programs expire. The expiring policies include several measures specific to rural hospitals, as well as certain payments for ambulance and pathology services (Baker, 11/29).

Reuters: U.S. Republicans Back Payroll Tax Cut Extension
Republicans in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday threw their support behind a payroll tax cut extension, trying to blunt charges ahead of 2012 elections of favoring wealthy Americans over middle-class workers. ... McConnell did not provide details on how Republicans would offset the cost of extending the tax cut. There has been speculation among some Democratic aides in Congress that Republicans could take aim at new federal subsidies under President Barack Obama's overhaul of the health care system (Cowan, 11/29).