The Senate passed legislation yesterday that pays for the reversal of a $6 billion cut to military pensions by extending sequestration by one year to 2024.
The bill — which the House passed earlier this week — also creates a transitional fund for sustainable growth rate reform. Every year since 2003, Congress has enacted a short-term legislative patch to delay double-digit cuts to physicians' Medicare reimbursement rates under the SGR. Last week, House and Senate leaders introduced a bipartisan bill that would permanently fix the SGR problem by repealing and replacing the formula.
House Republicans originally included these provisions in the Temporary Debt Limit Extension Act, which tied the SGR fund, sequestration extension and pension cut reversal to suspending the debt ceiling until March 15. However, lawmakers decided to split the pension reduction reversal from the debt limit bill, which the House and Senate also passed this week.
Hospital groups have sent letters to both House and Senate members opposing the sequestration extension, which will reduce Medicare payment rates. In their letter to the Senate, the American Hospital Association, America's Essential Hospitals, Association of American Medical Colleges, Catholic Health Association of the United States, Children's Hospitals Association, Federation of American Hospitals, National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, Premier and VHA wrote that while they don't object to repealing the military pension cut, they do object to reducing Medicare payments to pay for non-Medicare spending.
"Medicare is meant to assure seniors access to needed medical care, not serve as a piggybank for other programs," they wrote. "It is bad policy to further extend Medicare sequester cuts that could undermine care for seniors."
More Articles on Medicare Payments:
House Passes Bill to Restore Military Pensions Through Sequestration Extension
Debt Limit Bill Would Fund SGR Repeal, Extend Sequestration Cuts
MedPAC Recommends 2015 Pay Freeze for Some Providers