"Physicians are anxious about the future, and [are] making decisions now about how many Medicare patients they can see and their participation status in Medicare for next year," said Dr. Cecil B. Wilson, the association's president.
How Congress handles the so-called doc-fix measure, along with the looming Nov. 30 deadline to extend unemployment insurance, will be an early test of the new power structure in Washington and the new anti-spending sentiment in the Capitol. Lawmakers, who don't return until Nov. 15, will only have a few days in which to vote this month before recessing for the holidays.
Lifeline at risk for 2 million joblessBoth deadlines have been extended multiple times this year as Congress tried to strike a balance between continuing programs and adding to the deficit. The most recent doc-fix -- which lasted six months and cost $6.4 billion -- was passed at the end of June.
But doctors and the unemployed may have to wait until the new Congress is seated in January to learn their fate, said Sarah Binder, senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. There isn't much appetite on the Republican side to pass any bills before they take control of the House of Representatives. And lawmakers will be pretty wrapped up with what to do about the expiring Bush tax cuts.
Physicians are also asking Congress to overhaul the way that Medicare reimbursement rates are determined. A 1997 law requires that doctors' Medicare rates be adjusted each year based on the health of the economy, with the goal of keeping the program in the black. Reimbursement rate changes have now been blocked 10 times in the last eight years, including four times this year.
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