“Leave my Medicare alone” cont.

US House Speaker Boehner says permanent fix to Medicare doctors payment formula likely, ‘no intention’ of passing short-term repair instead - @Reuters
end of alert

wsj.com

Actually, this sounds like a fairly decent compromise for Medicare pmts to drs.

“But the House vote itself is something of a milestone. Lawmakers have long wanted to bring an end to the ritual of overriding the formula, known as the “doc fix,” and snap a string of 17 straight patches. What’s more, because the patches have frequently taken the form of freezing doctor payments, the current payment rate is 17% below the 2001 rate, adjusted for increases in the cost of providing services, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Some physicians have responded by declining to accept new Medicare patients.”

I kept wondering why my co-pays for drs were getting more expensive, esp those in hospital settings, like ER treatment.