The House passed a matching “Doc Fix” bill the Senate had previously approved. It rolled back the 21% Medicare cut and provided a 2.2% increase. However, it only solves the problem until December 1st when the same issues must be addressed again. This Medicare cut/rollback has been going on for years…and now for another five months. The cost is $6.5 Billion and is deficit neutral by making some hospital reimbursement cuts.
Desperately needed state Medicaid funding was not addressed. We assume Medicaid and some other benefit extender items such as unemployment, etc., cannot wait until fall, but there doesn’t seem to be any immediate attempt to solve these issues, particularly with the holiday break just a week away.
