President Obama Presses Congress on ‘Doc Fix’

Source: NY Times

President Obama called Saturday for Congress to avert a planned 21 percent pay cut for doctors who see Medicare patients, saying the move, which would cost taxpayers billions of dollars, is necessary to insure the health of older Americans.

The so-called “doc fix” has been stalled in the Senate, and if lawmakers do not approve the spending, the cuts will take effect next week. Mr. Obama used his weekly Internet address to warn that if Republicans block a vote on the issue, it would “undoubtedly force some doctors to stop seeing Medicare patients altogether.”

(snip)
“Now, I realize that simply kicking these cuts down the road another year is not a long-term solution to this problem,” the president said. “For years, I have said that a system where doctors are left to wonder if they’ll get fairly reimbursed makes absolutely no sense. “

(snip)
“I’m absolutely willing to take the difficult steps necessary to lower the cost of Medicare and put our budget on a more fiscally sustainable path,” he said. “But I’m not willing to do that by punishing hard-working physicians or the millions of Americans who count on Medicare.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/us/13ADDRESS.html?hp

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/12/weekly-address-fair-pay-doctors
Weekly Address: Fair Pay for Doctors

I did not know where it stood.

When Hilary Clinton put together a HCR package, it did not pass. So Obama let the Congress put the HCR package together.

It might have been better politically to do what Rahm Emanuel suggested and have Obama just ask the Congress to pass the popular pieces of legislation the way Bush did the drug bill. Bush's drug bill made no provision whatsoever to cover the costs of the bill. It was because the Dems wanted to cover the costs of the bill (hence the requirement that everyone have insurance) that the bill became so unpopular with some DUers as well as Republicans.

What Rahm wanted would have made DU angrier as it would have been MUCH less.

as part of the Medicare budget. It was NOT part of the new healthcare plan. Adding it there would have changed the fact that the healthcare bill LOWERS the deficit to increases it. Now, the intention was always to do it - as happens every budget. It would happen even if the healthcare bill were rejected. The latter shows that this was a cost that was related to the healthcare bill. It is also true that the fix should be done right so it does not have to be done every year.