How To Easily End The ‘Dr Medicare payment rate’ Problem — And Why the House GOP Is OPPOSED TO IT!

... here we go again. In order to see that Doctors don't take a 27% cut in Medicare payment rates Democrats (And Senate Minority Whip, Republican, John Kyl) have supported the idea averting the Dr's Medicare Payment rate reduction with the savings to be had from the troop withdrawals from IRAQ and Afghanistan. But House Republicans are planning another Insidious Evil Device - another budget battle - by opposing the use of the savings from the middle-East withdrawals and instead demanding this Dr's Pay 'Fix' be paid for with more cuts to the budget.


http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/an-easy-way-to-squash-the-doc-fix-problem----and-why-house-republicans-hate-it.php?ref=fpa

One of the items Congress extended for two months in the December payroll tax package is current Medicare payment rates to physicians, averting a steep 27.4 percent cut. Although a yearlong “doc fix” is seen as likeliest when lawmakers return to town this week and begin negotiating pay-fors, even that would merely be punting an issue in need of a permanent fix.

Over the last few months there’s been serious talk in Congress of buying out the “doc fix” issue once and for all with war savings from troop withdrawals in Iraq and Afghanistan, estimated at over half a trillion dollars.

The idea has been championed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and multiple other key senators including John Kerry (D-MA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Tom Harkin (D-IA).

But even though this plan could remove for free the $300-billion-and-growing albatross from the nation’s neck, it faces fierce resistance from House Republicans. In fact, some of the vocal opponents are doctors in the caucus, whom Leadership tends to give the first bite at the apple on health issues.

That’s largely because House Republicans view the necessity of finding doc fix pay-fors as leverage to cut government spending.
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