Kudos to Big Sky Cairn's Brad F for clarifying the issue of the upcoming cuts in Medicare payments for doctors. In it, he explained the origin of the cuts:
Back in 1997, President Clinton signed the Balanced Budget Act which contained a new payment schedule for physicians in Medicare. The basic principle of the SGR is to keep the growth of Medicare costs in line with the overall growth of the US economy. This idea works great when you have more individuals entering the workforce than entering Medicare age and keep a good (2-3%) growth in the overall economy. Of course in the past couple years, especially in 2007-08, we have seen baby boomers entering the system and an overall economic slowdown. The formula being what it is says that in order to keep Medicare costs roughly in proportion to what they were last year huge cuts are needed to balance everything out.
I, of course, assumed that President Bush had a hand in enacting the cuts. An easy, if careless, mistake, given the president's reason for his impending veto (to protect the insurance industry) and the effect that a payment decrease would have - it drives doctors from participating in government health care. Sabotaging such programs has been a goal of conservatives for some time.
Brad also pointed out that a majority of House Republicans voted for postponing the cuts, among them, Dennis Rehberg. So, hat's off to Dennis - for now. (We'll see how he votes on it again, should Bush get a chance to veto it.)
But what is strange is Brad's condemnation for Baucus' "leadership" on the issue, faulting the chair of the Tax & Finance Committee for not getting enough Republican Senators to sign on to a postponement of the payment decrease and for not getting the sitting Republican president to not veto the bill, should it avoid a Republican-led filibuster.
If Brad is as concerned about the payments as I am - and his post hints that he is - his condemnation should center on those Senators that will filibuster the bill and the president that will veto it. Don't trash Max Baucus; pressure Arlen Specter for, so far, standing in favor of the cuts. |
