[Ed note: Congress has recessed for the holiday without preventing the scheduled July 1 cut in payment to physicians treating Medicare patients. The Department of Health and Human Services will freeze the current Medicare payment system for 10 days. (The government normally has a waiting period before paying claims so a temporary delay in reimbursement may not be a problem.) But that leaves little time for lawmakers to return and iron out a way to avoid the 10.6% cut. A major stumbling block to negotiations has been a provision in the House bill (which proposed to stop the cuts) to instead cut Medicare Advantage, a private insurer program favored by the Bush administration. Another issue at hand is the bidding program to limit DME suppliers to a pre-approved government vendor list.]

Following are statements by two leading doctors' groups:

Statement Attributable to:

Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D.
President, American Medical Association

"The physicians of America are outraged that a group of Republican senators followed the direction of the Bush Administration and voted to protect health insurance companies at the expense of America's seniors, disabled and military families.

"These senators leave for their 4th of July picnics knowing that the most vulnerable Americans are at risk because of the Senate's inability to act to stop drastic payment cuts for health care services that are needed by our Medicare and TRICARE patients.

"The House voted to preserve access to care for Medicare patients in a bipartisan landslide vote to pass H.R. 6331 by an overwhelming margin of 355 to 59. The House made seniors, the disabled and military families a top priority. The AMA appreciates the courage of the 59 Senators, including 9 Republicans, who voted to put patients ahead of partisan politics and vote for H.R. 6331.

"Today, thanks to some senators, we stand at the brink of a Medicare meltdown. On July 1 ... the government slash[ed] Medicare physician payments by 10.6 percent, forcing many physicians to make the difficult choice to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practices.

"The Senate must return from their recess and make seniors' health care their top priority. For doctors, this is not a partisan issue - it's a patient access issue."

**

The American College of Physicians also expressed its dismay and frustration, along with plans to aggressively campaign to reverse the cuts. The doctors' group expressed "deep frustration and dismay over a failed legislative process that will result in a 10.6 percent Medicare physician payment cut going into effect on July 1." Speaking for the 126,000-member organization, Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP, president of ACP, explained that (on Friday 6/27/08), Congress recessed for the Independence Day holiday without passing legislation to avert the cut. It won't return until the week of July 7. In the meantime, physician claims for Medicare patients will be subjected to the 10.6 percent cut.

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