Docs Take on Payment Changes, Bipartisan Medicare Reform

How To Pay Physicians

"A new independent panel, made up mostly of doctors, will tackle the thorny issue of physician pay, but it won't be dealing with the sustainable growth rate issue.  The Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) announced Monday that it's launching the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform to assess physician payment issues and to develop recommendations on how to reform the doctor payment system while keeping costs in check and improving patient care."

"Unlike the bipartisan debt reduction committee that recently agreed to the bill that delays the impending 27% cut in Medicare pay rates for 10 months, the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform won't delve into the SGR or budget issues, such as how to pay for payment and delivery system reform.  'We're talking about how doctors get paid, not how Congress solves its budget issues,' Schroeder said."

Taking the politics out (mostly), but keeping the special interests of providers in.

Prospects for Medicare Agreement

MISSED THIS LAST WEEK, BUT STILL OF INTEREST:  "Before Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduced their 'Bipartisan Options for the Future' on December 15, 2011, the notion that Democrats and Republicans agreed about certain aspects of Medicare might have seemed unthinkable.  But the pairing of a liberal Democrat who has long worked on health care reforms and a fiscally conservative Republican primarily known for work on budget issues suggests that it might be possible for the parties to reach a compromise on Medicare reform."

"Of course, meaningful reform is not likely to occur in 2012: any significant reform probably won't happen until the public sends a clearer signal about the kinds of change it will tolerate, which won't be possible until after the fall elections.  Yet some Republicans and Democrats appear to be in substantial agreement about some changes that might make Medicare more efficient, effective, and fiscally sustainable -- even if none of these changes are universally accepted by either party as desirable or even tolerable."

Perspectives that are worth reading and understanding.

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GOP and Traditional Medicare, GOP Still Negotiating

Can GOP Deliver On Its Promise To Preserve Traditional Medicare?

From Kaiser Health News:  "House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's promise to preserve traditional Medicare, which is likely to appear in his soon-to-be unveiled budget plan, could have big implications for Republican presidential and congressional candidates in November.  That pledge -- to allow future beneficiaries to remain in the government-run program that allows them to choose their own doctors and pay a percentage of the costs -- was part of a proposal to overhaul Medicare that the Wisconsin Republican put forward in December with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore."

"Proponents see the new proposal as more politically palatable than last year's House budget that would have eliminated traditional Medicare, and which may have cost the GOP a congressional seat in New York.  But some critics argue the overhaul would change the current program so fundamentally that it might no longer be a desirable -- or affordable -- option."

Republican Renegotiation

"Conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are not satisfied with spending caps mandated by last year's debt limit deal and are seeking deeper cuts -- even if this raises the risk of another government shutdown fight.  Republican aides said on Wednesday some members of the House Budget Committee are pressing for a budget resolution that holds discretionary spending at least $97 billion below the $1.047 trillion cap set by the Budget Control Act for fiscal 2013.  Members of the Republican Study Committee, a staunchly conservative wing of the party that includes many lawmakers backed by the Tea Party movement, are advocating $931 billion in discretionary spending, although some have suggested a compromise figure of $950 billion."

MORE:  "Less than a year after reaching a budget agreement with President Barack Obama, House GOP leaders now seem likely to walk away from it under pressure from tea party-backed conservatives eager to show voters they're serious about shrinking the government."

STILL MORE:  "Signs mounted Thursday that House Republican leaders, under pressure from their conservative members, will submit a budget that calls for cutting federal programs beneath the levels they agreed to in the bipartisan August debt limit.  Democrats warned that violating the agreement could spark a government shutdown fight later this year."

For Your Information

Citizens United Gives GOP 'Mad Men' New Prominence

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IPAB in Trouble, Tax Plans and Medicare Cuts, Utah GOP Attacks Medicare

House Votes to End IPAB (as we know it)

"The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation that would repeal implementation of an advisory board created to recommend cuts to Medicare, the U.S. health program for the elderly and disabled.  Under the 2010 health-care overhaul, the Independent Payment Advisory Board could draft reductions to Medicare payments for doctors, hospitals and other providers without congressional approval.  The board would have 15 members selected by the president and confirmed by the Senate; none have been named to the panel. "

GOP Candidates Would Tax the 99% and Reduce Medicare

"All four of the candidates left vying for the GOP nomination -- Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum -- have tax plans that would slash taxes below their current modern lows.  These tax cuts would cost the federal government trillions of dollars in revenue over the next decade, forcing deep and severe cuts to government services and likely undermining Social Security and Medicare."

"Each of these plans would have significant consequences, both by reducing tax rates and cutting the resources available to programs and services like Social Security, Medicare, environmental protection, and public health and safety."

Utah Dems Support Medicare

"Utah Democrats delivered a message Tuesday about the many 'message bills' that Republican legislators are running this election year to attack the federal government and the Obama administration.  'Enough is enough,' House Minority Leader David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, said in a news conference.  House Democratic Assistant Whip Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, complained that message bills take 'time and the energy and the resources of the state Legislature … and divert them away from productive activity and into an attack on the federal government and an attack on the Obama administration.'"

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