President Bush Vetoes Legislation to Avert Medicare Cuts, Congress Votes to Override Veto
(NEWLY Updated July 22, 2008)
On Tuesday, July 15, President Bush vetoed H.R. 6331, legislation to avert the 10.6% Medicare payment cut that went into effect on July 1. Shortly thereafter the House and the Senate successfully voted to override the President’s veto, thereby making H.R. 6331 law.
The legislation, passed by Congress, continues physician payment rates, for the remainder of 2008, at the same level they were for the first six months of the year. In addition, it provides a 1.1% increase for 2009 and several other provisions to improve Medicare payment and coverage polices, supported by ACP. These provisions include:
expanded funding for a Medicare medical home demo that will study the impact on quality and cost of an exciting new program to reimburse primary care physicians for care coordination;
increased payments for office and hospital visits;
authorization for Medicare to cover preventive services recommended by an expert advisory group; and
phased-in reductions in co-payments for mental health benefits to reach parity with cost-sharing for other Medicare benefits.
The measure has been championed by ACP.
See more detailed information about how the new law will benefit
internists
. - Learn more about the impact that the new law will have on claims processing
See a calculator you can use to determine the dollar impact of the new law on your practice.
Look to this site over the next few days for further guidance on how the new law may affect you, including additional information on the impact to claims.
Page updated: 07-22-08
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