Statement attributable to:
Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D.
President, American Medical Association
“The physicians of
“These senators leave for their 4th of July picnics knowing that the most vulnerable Americans are at risk because of the Senate’s inability to act to stop drastic payment cuts for health care services that are needed by our Medicare and TRICARE patients.
“The House voted to preserve access to care for Medicare patients in a bipartisan landslide vote to pass H.R. 6331 by an overwhelming margin of 355 to 59. The House made seniors, the disabled and military families a top priority. The AMA appreciates the courage of the 59 Senators, including nine Republicans, who voted to put patients ahead of partisan politics and vote for H.R. 6331.
“Today, thanks to some senators, we stand at the brink of a Medicare meltdown. On July 1 – just four days from now – the government will slash Medicare physician payments by 10.6 percent, forcing many physicians to make the difficult choice to limit the number of Medicare patients in their practices.
“The Senate must return from their recess and make seniors’ health care their top priority. For doctors, this is not a partisan issue – it’s a patient access issue.” <<
For more information, please contact:
Brenda Craine
Director, AMA Media Relations
(202) 789-7447
brenda.craine@ama-assn.org
Absolute garbage on the part of our Senators. It’s hard to think of anything to say that might somehow respond to this kind of blatant corporate favoritism. Unfortunately this has been true of most issues for many years and, as stories like this attest, it’s only getting worse. Representative Democracy is problematic at best……..
[...] H.R. 6331. Physicians who accept Medicare faced a 10.6% pay cut unless the bill was passed, but President Bush and a number of Republican legislators opposed the measure. H.R. 6331 passed into law. Shortly thereafter, the Republicans found themselves as the out of [...]