By June 30 of this year, Congress will need to decide how to adequately reimburse physicians in the Medicare program for their services. While Congress addresses this issue, AARP believes that the solution should not be funded by raising the premiums of Medicare recipients. Premiums have already doubled since the year 2000. Older Americans – especially those with limited incomes – should not be unfairly saddled with the added cost of physician reimbursements.
Is this really too much to ask of our members of Congress? We don't think so, and we know most of you agree – you've told us through your actions and your letters.
To look at the recent history of Congressional action on these issues, the record is clear, no matter what you call it. Call it procrastination, "kicking the can", ducking the issue or punting.
Whichever term you prefer, Congress chose this path last year by temporarily delaying cuts to physicians' Medicare payments – until June of this year. They didn't solve the problem, they simply put a band-aid on it – pushed it down the road and went home.
This was, and continues to be, the wrong approach. AARP believes that Medicare beneficiaries should not endure year-to-year uncertainty about the stability of their relationship with their physician. At the same time, we also firmly believe that it is time to stop endlessly raising the premiums of seniors in Medicare.
Enough is enough.
For years, Congress has decided to put off until tomorrow what they don't want to do today. In the end, all they've done is make physicians uncertain about the Medicare program and shift program costs to Medicare enrollees.
They're in a hole and we have some advice… stop digging.
So stay tuned – you'll be hearing more about this issue in the coming months as we work to find out where Congress stands when it comes to strengthening the Medicare program.
blog.aarp.org/shaarpsession/divided_we_fail/
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