By Mary Garrigan, Journal staff Friday, July 04, 2008 A temporary 15-day freeze on Medicare payments to doctors won't hurt providers or affect medical care in western South Dakota yet, but it sends a powerful message to Congress to address a pending...

July 4, 2008

Washington (dbTechno) - Next week, the battle over the payment rates for Medicare doctors will resume after things began to heat up prior to the Fourth of July recess.

It is now believed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, may once again try to garner up the 60 votes to pass the Medicare bill.

The bill had already passed through the House, but was threatened by a President Bush veto, and did not pass in Senate.

Many have been extremely vocal, voicing their opposition to Republicans who voted the bill down.

The majority of Republicans are not so concerned with stopping the pay rate to Medicare doctors, but are instead concerned with cutting payments to insurance companies.

The new bill would do just that, getting rid of the 10.6% pay cut to Medicare doctors, and instead cutting payments to actual insurance companies.

Next week talks will resume as the bill will be on the table yet again.

Source: dBTechno