Senate Votes to Stall Medicare Payment Cut

The Senate voted late last week to temporarily delay a 23% Medicare payment cut to physicians, continuing current payment levels through the end of the year.

The reduction in payments was scheduled to take effect Dec. 1, but has been postponed until Jan. 1, 2011. The month-long delay will cost $1 billion over a decade, which will be paid for with savings from planned Medicare reimbursement cuts for therapy services. The House will most likely vote on this measure after its Thanksgiving recess.

Perennially criticized and annually delayed, the Medicare fee cuts have grown from 4.8% in 2002, when they were originally proposed, to 23% this year, Bloomberg reported.

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