AARP, AMA at odds over Medicare Part B premiums and reimbursement
From The Hill:
The American Medical Association (AMA) is trying — so far unsuccessfully — to persuade Congress to step in to prevent cuts to Medicare payments next year. But AARP, which lobbies on behalf of older Americans, is endangering that quest by insisting that Congress only help doctors if it also protects senior citizens from footing the bill for any added costs that result.
Although both groups deny they are at odds, the powerful AARP and the AMA could find themselves working at cross-purposes if members of Congress aiming to enact a temporary fix for falling physician-payment rates are not willing to take the expensive step of holding down the escalating Medicare premiums.
Doctors face a 4.4 percent cut in payments in 2006.
On Friday, the Bush administration announced that next year’s premium for Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits and other services performed outside of hospitals, would increase by 13.2 percent to $88.50 a month. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) emphasized that an increase in what Medicare pays for doctor visits would further increase the premium.
Under the Medicare law, 25 percent of total spending on Part B must be covered by premiums, while taxpayers pay for the remainder. Any increase in the cost of this part of the program translates into higher premiums. According to CMS, an increase in services billed to Medicare by doctors and hospital outpatient clinics is the chief reason for next year’s hike. Higher payments to health-insurance companies serving beneficiaries through the Medicare Advantage program also contributed to rising costs.
The physicians lobby’s goal of selling Congress on a payment fix faces several other obstacles as well, chief among them being the high price tag of even a one- or two-year increase.