Medicare bill could impact Borderland doctors
The house has just passed a major change for the future of Medicare. It could also have big impacts for doctors in the Borderland.
In an unusual bi-partisan move, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $241 billion measure permanently blocking cuts in Medicare reimbursement payments for physicians in a 392-to-37 vote.
Experts say this is a win for both parties. Republicans won a long-term strengthening of Medicare’s finances with cost increases for some high-income recipients. Democrats claimed victory because more money will be available for health programs for children and poor families.
At it’s core, the bill will eliminate the “sustainable growth rate” formula for Medicare reimbursements, instead paying based on performance of doctors.
Borderland congressmen including Democrat Beto O’Rourke and Republicans Steve Pearce and Will Hurd all voted in favor of the bill.
In a statement, O’Rourke said he voted for the bill because “I’ve heard from doctors and other medical service providers in El Paso that the unpredictability in Medicare payments makes it difficult to accept new patients or expand practices. It is essential for El Paso that SGR be repealed.”
For years, ABC-7 has been covering the difficulties of El Paso doctors like Andres Enriquez in covering the elderly under the old formula.
“When you ask me what i’m going to do next year — I don’t know,” Enriquez said in 2013. “I’ve got a lot of viejitos and I love my viejitos, my 80 years olds and they keep asking me, ‘Are you going to continue to see us?’ And I say well, I will as long as I can. Because at the same time I’ve got 23 families to feed. I’ve got 23 employees.”
The bill now goes to the Senate, where action needs to happen quickly before an April 1 deadline. If nothing happens before then, a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments would go into effect for doctors.
