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House budget cuts Medicare spending
Physician Practice Advisor, December 21, 2005
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 212-206 on Monday to approve a budget bill that slows Medicare spending over the next five years. The net savings are estimated at $6.4 billion-after a $7.3 billion expenditure to eliminate a 4.4 percent pay cut to doctors that was scheduled to go into effect in 2006.
"By freezing payments at 2005 rates, the House has stopped a planned 4.4 percent payment reduction that would force physicians to limit the number of new Medicare patients they take into their practice," American Medical Association President Dr. Edward Hill said in a statement.
The bill also freezes home health care payments, saving $2 billion and curtails payment rates for imaging such as MRIs by $2.8 billion over five years. In addition, it speeds up implementation of a requirement, approved in 2003 as part of the Medicare drug-benefit law, that wealthier older Americans pay higher monthly premiums for health coverage.
The Senate is expected to vote on the budget later this week.
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