Medicare payment reform talking points

• If the U.S. Congress does not act, starting in December 2010, physicians will face a 23 percent Medicare payment cut that will jump to 30 percent in January 2011. 
• Cuts of this magnitude will create an access crisis for Medicare patients. Seniors know this and are concerned.
• In 2005, 53 percent of Minnesota physicians who were surveyed said they would reduce their numbers of new Medicare patients, if the proposed cuts, which were about 5 percent at the time, occurred. Nearly four out of 10 said they’d be forced to reduce the total number of Medicare patients they see.
• Congress needs to replace Medicare’s flawed physician payment formula, known as the Sustainable Growth Rate, or SGR, with a formula that reflects increases in physician practice costs.

• “Congress is playing a dangerous game of Russian roulette with seniors’ health care. Congress must replace the broken payment formula that continues to create uncertainty and distrust among patients and physicians.” - Benjamin Whitten, M.D., MMA President 2009-2010