In a letter sent Thursday to the U.S. House of Representatives, the AMA urged Congress to abandon its partisan approaches to eliminate Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and resume bipartisan, bicameral efforts to reform Medicare’s broken payment system before time runs out.
“I am writing to profess our profound disappointment that a strong bipartisan, bicameral effort to repeal the Medicare SGR has become a victim of partisan approaches to resolve budgetary issues,” AMA CEO James L. Madara, MD, states in the letter addressed to House leaders.
The letter, which was sent to every member of the House, points out that Congress is closer than ever before to repealing the SGR formula because it has worked together—between chambers and across party lines—toward this end for more than a year.
Thanks to physician advocacy, many important milestones were reached in the past year, including:
- A bipartisan majority in Congress—141 Republicans and 118 Democrats—signed a letter to their leadership urging full SGR repeal.
- Committees from both chambers of Congress worked together to create a legislative package that repeals the SGR formula and offers considerable improvements over current law.
- The three committees of jurisdiction completed successful bipartisan mark-up of the legislation, which then was sent to the full Congress.
While an overwhelming majority of the House and the U.S. Senate supports SGR repeal, partisan tactics are putting up roadblocks to passing legislation that would eliminate the payment formula.
“This policy will only become law if Congress collaborates in a bipartisan manner to resolve the fiscal matters associated with this legislation,” the AMA letter states.
The House is scheduled to vote Friday on a version of this previously bipartisan, bicameral bill that now has been amended to offset the costs of repeal with a five-year delay of the individual mandate for health insurance coverage required under the Affordable Care Act. The president announced this week that he would veto any such measure.
Meanwhile, the March 31 deadline looms. At that time, the current payment patch will expire, and a 24 percent cut to physician payments is set to kick in. Only a handful of legislative days remain because next week is a congressional recess.
While lawmakers won’t be in Washington, D.C., to work on legislation, they will be in their home states and districts, listening intently to what their constituents have to say.
Physicians can seize this opportunity to tell their members of Congress that settling for another payment patch in favor of partisan maneuvers is unacceptable. Congress must work together to repeal the SGR once and for all. You can take action in three ways:
- Call your members of Congress via the AMA’s grassroots hotline, (800) 833-6354. Your call will be directed to their district offices during the recess.
- Email them via the Fix Medicare Now campaign.
- Voice your concerns at a town hall meeting or other public event. Email the AMA to learn more.
Tell your members of Congress: No more patches; repeal SGR now!
