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Lawmakers have less than a month to pass legislation that slow down or stop cuts to Medicare

(Photo supplied/State Of Indiana)

Lawmakers have less than a month to pass legislation that would slow down or stop impending Medicare reimbursement cuts.

You may remember when Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN-8th) spoke on the issue a couple of months ago before a House committee hearing on the Supporting Health Care Providers During the Covid-19 Pandemic Act.

Bucshon, who is a medical doctor, spoke again in front of the Rules Committee on Tuesday to lambaste lawmakers for taking this long to move the bill forward, accusing Democrats of holding it hostage as part of an overall package to raise the debt ceiling.

“At a time when doctors are the heroes on the front lines taking care of our family and loved one during a once in a century pandemic, leaders in the majority think them pawns in a high stakes political game,” Bucshon said.

Bucshon said because the debt ceiling provision was added to the bill, he voted against moving it forward. The bill ended up passing a committee vote.

The bill at its core is meant to stave off cuts to reimbursement rates set to happen on Jan. 1, 2022, for doctors who treat patients who are covered by Medicare. When a patient is on medicare, the government foots the bill for their medical costs by having doctors treat them and then reimbursing doctors for said treatment.

“All of us have been hearing from doctors back home about the imminent cuts they’re facing if Congress didn’t act by Jan. 1, 2022,” said Bucshon. “They’ve told us how this will only make worse the already troubling physician shortage.”

The bill has yet to be taken up by the full House

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1 comment

Slacker06 December 12, 2021 at 12:11 pm

Medicate has already been CUT by Bidenflation. We can borrow or print scads of phony dollars to spend on God only knows. We can raise taxes to pay for foolish stuff yet leave our seniors to decide to take their meds or eat cat food. Yet cannot seem to keep Medicare and Social security going for those who paid into those systems their entire lifetimes. Write your congress-critter or senator on this issue. You will get the most excruciating bovine scatology you can imagine. Rip Van Todd is the worst offender. Their goal is not to solve problems. In fact government tinkering with the medical system has cause most of the problems. Their goal is to baffle us with Bovine Scatology so we remain clueless as they rip us off. Name the last time a government program solved any problem. usually they make the problems worse. Then propose more government “solutions.”

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