Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the results of a Tuesday night House vote.
Congress reached a bipartisan deal on Tuesday to stave off some impending Medicare cuts, but it won’t address all of the cost-cutting triggers even if passed by year’s end.
Long-term care and other healthcare providers had raised the alarm in recent days about lawmakers’ inaction on three separate Medicare reductions that threaten to trim payments by nearly 10% combined starting in January.
The Supporting Health Care Providers During the Covid-19 Pandemic Act would extend a moratorium on a 2% sequester cut through the end of March and then enact a 1% cut April through June. It also would delay a 4% budget-balancing cut known as PAYGO until 2023. Finally, it would provide a one-year, 3% increase in the Medicare physician fee schedule (rather than the 3.75% providers received this year).
The House Rules Committee met to discuss the legislation Tuesday afternoon, and by late evening the full House had voted 222-212 to pass it as part of a larger procedural bill to raise the debt ceiling. It was unclear when the Senate might take up a related measure. Some reports suggested the work could be complete by Thursday.
Just late last week, passage of any type of relief looked uncertain before a Dec. 31 deadline.
“Our sector has been hit so hard with COVID, and these reductions just make it ever-more difficult in an already very difficult environment,” Cynthia Morton, executive vice president of the National Association for the Support of Long Term Care, said then, calling on “champions” to take up the cause of providers.
House co-sponsors Kim Schrier, M.D., (D-WA) and Steven Horsford (D-NV) noted the pandemic’s ongoing operational and financial challenges in a statement accompanying the bill’s introduction.
“This is necessary legislation to support providers and keep the healthcare system stable in this pandemic, allowing patients to receive the care they need,” they said. “This legislation will bring some stability to the Medicare payment system to ensure patients can keep seeing their (providers). And (providers), who have been on the frontlines during this pandemic, can continue to keep their doors open.”
In his own statement following news of the legislation, Gerald E. Harmon, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, praised Congress for “taking a decisive step” and “providing valuable time for identifying the fundamental system reforms needed to stabilize and support innovation in this critically important program.”
“We urge the House and Senate to support this bipartisan proposal and join together again in the new year to develop long-term solutions to address the flaws in the Medicare payment system.”
