“Doc-Fix” is Broken
12/01/2011 | | Congress Doctor Fix, Doc-Fix, Doctor-Fix, Medicaid, Medicaid Costs, Medicare, medicare Costs, Medicare Expenses
Unless Congress acts by 1/27/12, doctors treating Medicare patients will suffer a 27% fee cut. Last year, and every year since ’03, Congress passes a temporary “Doc Fix.” Problem is, every year, the size of the “Fix” gets bigger. The need for this annual display of fiscal dysfunction stems from a formula (the Sustainable Growth Rate) passed well over a decade ago designed to control Medicare spending that totally failed, but has never been repealed.