As the end of the year grows closer, Congress—and doctors—are scrambling to prevent a series of actions that will hit pocketbooks hard. Without congressional action, physicians face a 27% pay cut mandated by the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, and an additional 2% reduction from sequestration--automatic budget cuts aimed at curbing the deficit.
Thus, large numbers of physicians went door-to-door in Congress last week, seeking to get their message out: The cuts must be stopped.
Frances Correa/IMNG Medical MediaCMS Deputy Administrator Cindy Mann explains details on health insurance exchanges at a recent Congressional hearing.
Meanwhile, another Affordable Care Act deadline has passed—states had until December 14 to say whether they would run an exchange on their own. Several states publicly said last week they would not go it alone—Tennessee, New Jersey and Pennsylvania--while Idaho’s governor said that his state would operate its exchange. As of Friday’s deadline, 18 states and the District of Columbia said they’d run their own exchange, and seven states said they’d partner with the feds. The remaining 25 are leaving it to the feds to operate the exchange in their state. States have until February to elect for a federal partnership.
Frances Correa/IMNG Medical MediaRep. Michael Burgess questions HHS officials about state-based exchanges.
Some state officials testified at a House subcommittee hearing that the federal government had not given them enough information on exchanges to make a good decision—and that’s why they were opting to let HHS run the exchanges for them.
For more on this and the Administration’s latest pronouncement on Medicaid expansion under the ACA, please take a listen.
---Alicia Ault (@aliciaault)