CBO portends 'heavy lifting' to avert Medicare doc pay reduction

The report offers cost estimates for a range of approaches that would head off a 29.4 percent reduction in Medicare physician payments scheduled to kick in Jan. 1, 2012. Meanwhile, in other news, a plan to curb the overuse of costly medical imaging demonstrates the difficulties posed by attempting even small changes in the health insurance program for seniors.

CQ HealthBeat: CBO Issues New Medicare Payment Fix Estimates
The Congressional Budget Office has issued cost estimates for a range of different approaches to heading off a 29.4 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 - all of which show Congress has a lot of heavy lifting ahead to find ways to avert the cut. The 10-year cost of the various payment options range from $22 billion to freeze payments next year at current levels and then revert to a 34 percent cut in 2013 to $388 billion to increase payments two percent each year from 2012 to 2021 (6/14).

Kaiser Health News: Doctors Balk At Proposal To Cut Medicare's Use Of Imaging
Kaiser Health News staff writers Mary Agnes Carey and Marilyn Werber Serafini report: "Even before its official release, a new proposal to curb the overuse of costly MRIs and other advanced imaging in Medicare is sparking a furor among physician and patient groups. The battle shows how hard it is to make even small changes in the sprawling program for the elderly - much less overhaul it" (Carey and Serafini, 6/14).