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Medicare Physician Payment Increases

I am committed to ensuring that North Carolina residents continue to have access to high-quality physician care.  Making sure that doctors are adequately reimbursed for their services to patients on Medicare, is an essential part of this commitment. We must quickly work to fix problems with Medicare formula for reimbursing physicians, as escalating physician expenses could force doctors to stop treating Medicare patients, resulting in even greater access problems to modern healthcare. Over the last five years, Congress has passed last minute, temporary fixes that either provide a small payment increase, or simply postpone pending cuts.   Most recently, Congress stopped a 10% payment cut and replaced it with 0.5% increase. This fix will expire on June 30, 2008.
 
While I have supported these temporary fixes, I believe Congress must permanently reform the current reimbursement system to accurately reflect the changing cost of providing medical care. I have consistently encouraged House leadership to eliminate the sustainable growth rate and replace it with a new formula. The six month fix was passed with the intention of Congress reexamining the issue early this year, and will pass a long-term fix to the formula. It is my hope, that this will be the case and I will act at every opportunity to ensure that Medicare patients have full access to their physicians.