Medicare Providers Concerned About Language in Bush’s FY 2003 Budget Saying Increased Rates for Some Will Be Balanced with Reductions for Others

Health care providers seeking increases in Medicare reimbursement rates are "frantic" about language in President Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget proposal that suggests that any reimbursement increases to some providers must be balanced with decreases to others, CongressDaily/AM reports. Medicare reimbursements to physicians decreased 5.4% on Jan. 1, and home health agencies are facing a 15% cut (Rovner, CongressDaily/AM, 2/13). Physicians have warned that if Congress does not reverse the reimbursement decrease, they may cut back Medicare services or exit the program altogether (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/15). "Everybody is very upset and very concerned" about the budget-neutrality language, a lobbyist for providers said, adding, "If it has to be budget-neutral, then to get yours, you have to take from somebody else, and nobody wants to do that." Nancy Dickey, a former president of the American Medical Association, said, "You've got to have new money. If you're just taking a brick from the south wall to put it in the north wall, sooner or later the whole infrastructure is in trouble" (CongressDaily/AM, 2/13).