In a 62-36 vote on March 10, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that, if approved by the House of Representatives, will delay until October 1 a planned 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement.
In addition to postponing the deadline for the mandated cut, which is due to a flaw in the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula used to calculate Medicare payments, the bill, called the American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act of 2010 (H.R. 4213) extends unemployment, tax breaks, and COBRA benefits.
Congress has to deal with the Medicare reimbursement cut every year; for 2010, it has been trying to solve the problem since December, repeatedly passing short-term delays to buy time so that a more permanent fix for the cut can be developed. The current SGR rate actually went into effect March 1, but the following day the Senate passed a measure to delay its implementation until April 1.
The bill now goes to the House. If the two bodies aren't able to reconcile their legislation, the Medicare cuts will go into effect April 1.
Related Reading
Senate delays Medicare payment cuts until April, March 3, 2010
Senate fails to avert 21% Medicare cut, February 26, 2010
Senate works to extend SGR deadline, February 9, 2010
Medical imaging 2010: Is the sky falling? January 12, 2010
Obama signs SGR fix legislation, December 23, 2009
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