Democrats Continue To Criticize Budget-Neutral Language on Medicare Provider Payment Increases

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) on April 8 called on the Bush administration to reverse its position that any increases in Medicare physician payments must be offset by decreases to other providers, CongressDaily reports. "We don't need providers fighting each other" for funds, Gephardt told the American Hospital Association at its annual membership meeting. Rockefeller said the budget-neutral provision outlined in President Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget proposal was a "terrible way of doing business" (Fulton/Koffler, CongressDaily, 4/8). Medicare physician reimbursement rates decreased 5.4% this year under a formula approved by Congress in 1997, leading providers to call on lawmakers to boost payments (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/15). But CMS Administrator Tom Scully defended the budget-neutral provision, saying its elimination would jeopardize other health priorities. "We just don't believe we should get out of those payment streams because it takes away money from access and prescription drugs," Scully told the AHA meeting. He added that a panel of experts tasked by the administration to study the provider payment system "sector by sector" will examine hospitals next week. "We have an obligation to figure out what the right amount is," he said (CongressDaily, 4/8).