Medicare Payments Frozen for Another Year
One day after the official deadline, the U.S. Congress yesterday stepped away from the so-called "fiscal cliff" and slapped another one-year patch on physicians' Medicare payments. (Action Special Issue, Jan. 2, 2013)
Stop Zombie-Medicare Financing: Call Congress Tuesdays
We need your help to help convince Congress to stop the “zombie Medicare financing” it uses to pay physicians. Every year for the past 12, cuts driven by the defective Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula come back from the dead but in even worse shape. The SGR crisis is not dead nor does it lie dormant. It’s very much alive.
Year after year of payment uncertainty is forcing doctors out of Medicare, making it more difficult for seniors, Texans with disabilities, and military families to get the care they need. In fact, the number of Texas physicians accepting all new Medicare patients has dropped from 78 percent in 2000 to only 58 percent in 2012. This statistic is frightening. The crisis can only get worse as millions of baby boomers become of Medicare age.
Please call Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 7 am, and every Tuesday thereafter until Congress stops the payment cut and agrees to fix the defective SGR. Join your colleagues to convince Congress to stop this year’s 27.5-percent cut. Get commitments from Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison and your representative to fix the 12-year-old problem.
More Information: Medicare Meltdown Fact Sheet
Talking Points to Congress on Tuesdays: Tell Your Story. How Has the Ongoing Uncertainty in Medicare Affected You, Your Patients, and Your Practice?
Use the TMA Grassroots Action Center to find phone numbers of your U.S. Representative and Sens. John Corrnyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison. Call Tuesdays between 7-8 am.
Grandma and the Big Bad SGR!
To illustrate the impact Medicare fee cuts could have on patients in terms even a child can understand, TMA produced the "Grandma and the Big, Bad SGR" video. Feel free to share the video with your members of Congress, colleagues, friends, family, patients, and staff.
Engage Your Patients
Get your patients involved. TMA has a new blog called, MeAndMy Doctor.com. It's a place where physicians and their patients can have a candid and honest discussion about today's health care system. Tell your patient to click on the "Stop Medicare Meltdown" box for a prewritten message they can send to Congress.
News Coverage
- Drop in Physician Acceptance of Medicaid, Medicare Patients - TMA News Release, July 9, 2012
- New Billing/Coding System: A Waste of Time and Money - TMA Statement, April 24, 2012
- TMA Statement: Medicare "Doc Fix' Fixes Nothing - TMA Statement, Feb. 17, 2012
- TMA Survey: Physicians Confused and Anxious - TMA News Release, Feb. 28, 2011
- Seniors Face Medicare Meltdown, Again - TMA Statement, Feb. 13, 2011
- Acceso a médicos a través de Medicare en peligro - TMA Statement, Feb. 13, 2011
- Congress Heads Home With a Lump of Coal for Medicare Patients - TMA Statement, Dec. 21, 2011
- Quit Playing Politics With Medicare Patient’s Health - TMA News Release, Dec. 16, 2011
- Doctors Angry as Medicare Meltdown Looms - TMA Statement, Dec. 1, 2011
- Will Congress Deny Health Care to Military Families? - TMA News Release, Nov. 1, 2011
- Medicare Meltdown Forces Physicians Out of Medicare - TMA News Release, Oct. 6, 2011
- Deficit Cuts Must Include Medicare Reform - Action, July 5, 2011)
- TMA: Congress Stopped the Bleeding but Medicare’s Still on Life Support - TMA Statement, June 24, 2010
- Texas doctors opting out of Medicare at alarming rate, - Houston Chronicle, May 17, 2010)
- Congress Takes Vacation With Medicare Cuts Pending
- Physicians and Patients Unite Across the U.S. to Stop the Medicare Meltdown - TMA News Release
- Congress Allows Medicare Meltdown to Happen - TMA News Release, Feb. 26, 2010
- Doctors both locally and nationally fearful of consequences of Medicare cuts - Waco Tribune-Herald, March 2, 2010
- CMS Delays Physician Pay Cut in Hopes that Congress Will Resolve Issue - HealthLeaders Media, March 1, 2010
- The House Puts Off the Medicare Pay Cut—Again - Newsweek, Feb. 26, 2010