U.S. Senate Fails Seniors on Health Care

“The U.S. Senate has adjourned without passing the legislation needed to stop the deep cut expected in the 2003 Medicare physician fee schedule and to prevent the problems this will cause for seniors trying to obtain health care. We rely on Congress to find a way to address and correct the problem, but they have let us down and they have let our patients down.

“More and more family physicians simply cannot afford to provide health care while Medicare payments continue to decline. Patients will suffer the most.

“The Senate has known for more than a year that the formula was seriously flawed and needed substantial revision. Senators have had many opportunities to address the unintended consequences of this dysfunctional formula but have not done so. The House of Representatives passed language that would have helped and could have been adopted by the Senate, but senators failed to pass the bill. Now the reimbursement levels from Medicare for health care services will be cut another 4.4 percent, following this year’s reduction of 5.4 percent. Now seniors will pay a heavy price: dwindling health-care options, longer waits for fewer available physicians and other health care providers, longer trips to more distant health-care facilities, and more out-of-pocket expenses.

“Family physicians want to continue providing health care to their senior patients. We don’t want to have to turn anyone away. We have our own offices and we all have to pay our bills. We deeply object to being put in this position. This continued decrease in Medicare fee reimbursement to physicians will only hurt those who need medical care the most by forcing physicians to limit the number of elderly they are able to care for.“