Senate Votes to Maintain Quality Health Care for Seniors

Seniors who were worried about physicians refusing to treat Medicare patients in the future due to a huge government pay cut for doctors, which was scheduled to begin in January, can breathe a little easier--at least for the next year.

The U.S. Senate yesterday voted unanimously to block the pay 25 percent reduction in Medicare payments to physicians for one year. The measure now goes to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to gain final passage and be signed into law by President Obama before Congress breaks for the holiday, well before the January 1 deadline. That's great news for seniors residing in a San Diego assisted living retirement community.

"Stopping the cut for one year will inject some much needed stability into the system for seniors residing in assisted living retirement communities in San Diego and physician practices who have spent this year in limbo because of five short-term delays," said Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, president of the American Medical Association, in a statement following the Senate vote. "This one-year delay comes right as the oldest baby boomers reach age 65, adding urgency to the need for a long-term solution before this demographic tsunami swamps the Medicare program."

The legislation would pay for the $19.2 billion fix by diverting money previously allocated to support state-run insurance exchanges, which were created by the healthcare reform law.

The new legislation also extends a number of Medicare provisions, including an extension of the therapy caps exception process through Dec. 31, 2011, to help ensure seniors continue to have access to sufficient physical therapy and speech-language pathology services.

In addition, the bill would repeal a delay in the implementation of the new Medicare payment structure for nursing homes, making the new structure retroactive to Oct. 1, 2010 rather than delaying it until Oct. 1, 2011. Saving doctors 25% in medicare payments will ensure that excellent care will continue for seniors at their local assisted living retirement community in San Diego.

The White House pushed hard for passage of the temporary fix, and urged the Senate and House to use the next year to develop a permanent solution to what has become a perennial problem for seniors and their physicians.