Last week saw the adjournment of the senate for a two week recess. They however failed to make a repeal of the formula for doctor compensation in the Medicare’s sustainable Growth Rate.
The senate went on a two week break before coming up with a temporary or permanent solution for the SGR problem, thus leaving doctors between a rock and a proverbial hard place. The senate adjourned despite pressure from President Obama and the house who had already passed the bill.
This unmotivated move received a lot of condemnation to the senate for their lack of sensitivity in the matter and their subsequent failure to act upon the problem. Physicians were especially disappointed because the failure to act upon the Medicare bill will lead to hefty 21% cuts from their compensations.
The American Medical association and other groups expressed disbelief and disappointment as they had expected congress to pass the MICRA bill. The senate is expected to take up the bill immediately after their return from the two-week break. This is expected to reduce the administrative burden for medical practitioners.
The MICRA bill is expected to influence positive change by adding an estimated $200 billion to the proposed Medicare financial plan within the next ten years. This will also see a 0.5% rise in the Medicare doctor compensation plan, starting from mid-2015 to the end of the year.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) is also putting pressure on the senate towards passing the bipartisan legislation which was tremendously supported and passed by the house. This is expected to help ease the pressure on medical practitioner administration and Medicare patients as well.
Despite the passing of the bill by the house, the senate is thought to have deliberately delayed in signing it. This after division when republican and democrat senators failed to agree on the bill. The republican senators expected a funding of more than $70 billion for the bill. Democrat senators on the other hand were pushing for an extension of the CHIP program by four years instead of the two years currently signed.