Health and Disability

"Once again, Medicare's Trustees have rung the alarm bell that the long-term fiscal solvency of the program is in serious trouble. It is critical that lawmakers ensure that Medicare will be a viable safety net for future generations of seniors. Seniors who rely on Medicare now also need Congress to take immediate short-term action to preserve their access to physician care this year.

"Findings from the latest Medicare Trustees report point to the critical need to reform the broken physician payment system. Cutting Medicare physician payments 41 percent over nine years while practice costs increase is penny-wise and pound foolish. Trying to save Medicare money by slashing physician payments will ruin the physician foundation of Medicare for current and future generations of seniors. A startling sixty percent of physicians say this year's cut alone will force them to limit the number of new Medicare patients they can treat. Couple this fact with a physician shortage and the huge influx of baby boomers soon to enter Medicare, and the outlook for Medicare patients' access to care is grim.

"Congress must take immediate action to preserve seniors' access to care as the first cut begins this July - and will total more than 15 percent by the end of 2009. The AMA supports the Save Medicare Act of 2008 (S.2785), which will replace 18 months of cuts with payment updates that better reflect medical practice cost increases. To demonstrate physicians' support for the legislation, nearly 1,000 physicians from across the nation will make a 'House Call' on Congress next week to call for action."

The American Association for Homecare vigorously disputed the validity of using Internet prices for power wheelchairs as a basis for setting reimbursement rates for power wheelchairs provided to seniors and disabled beneficiaries in Medicare.

The Association outlined its concerns in letters sent to Daniel Levinson, Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG), and to Congressman Pete Stark (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.

On October 30, the OIG issued a report titled, "A Comparison of Medicare Program and Consumer Internet Prices for Power Wheelchairs," which concluded that, "Medicare and its beneficiaries could have achieved savings during the first quarter of 2007 had Medicare reimbursements more closely resembled prices available to consumers over the Internet." AAHomecare strongly questions the appropriateness of the OIG comparison and its policy implications for Medicare reimbursement rates.

Tyler J. Wilson, president of the American Association for Homecare, commented, "This study and the inappropriate comparison of Medicare and Internet pricing will be used by some members of Congress to justify further cuts to power wheelchair Medicare reimbursement rates and defend the new competitive bidding program. We urge Congress to evaluate Medicare reimbursement for power wheelchairs in the correct context."

In today's letters to both Inspector General Levinson and Congressman Stark, the Association made several points:....