It’s been a fun week in Washington, D.C. The on-again, off-again, back on-again legislation known as the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 has been in the air. Congress, true to their word, promptly picked up the legislation (also known as the American Medical Association Handout Act of 2008) after returning from the Independence Day recess.
The legislation was a certainty, but Congress made if official on Tuesday. The bill passed both chambers but was vetoed by President around 1:30 on Tuesday. The House then voted to override by the comfortable margin of 383-41. The Senate picked up the legislation around dinner and picked up a few more votes, overriding Bush’s veto by 70-26.
Docs get another 18 months. Although, as interesting as this way, I find it remarkable that NOBODY in Washington actually wants to touch the issue of permanently fixing this annual fiasco and benchmarking physician payments to inflation. The silence in Washington is enough to give me hope that physician costs may one day be subjected to same stringent cost cutting measures we’ve seen in other aspects of healthcare.
