Lobbyists for doctors and hospitals are sounding alarms, asserting that the cuts, which politicians claim will not affect Medicare beneficiaries, would harm patients by affecting their access to and quality of care.
“This is a very serious problem for us,’’ said Dr. Lynda Young, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. “Obviously we recognize the need for cost cutting, but the depth of the projected cuts is really going to have a serious impact on access. Physicians are going to say, ‘We can’t take any new Medicare patients because we just can’t survive.’ ’’
Cuts to Medicare would be capped at 2 percent of current Medicare spending, or roughly $11 billion a year for a 10-year savings of approximately $130 billion, said Eric Zimmerman, a Washington attorney and lobbyist for the hospital industry. Details of how the cuts would be carried out remain to be seen, but Zimmerman says it could mean a flat 2 percent reduction in payments to Medicare providers, including doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and private insurers that offer plans with Medicare benefits.
“There will be a lot of hand wringing and anxiety over the next four months as we work through this process,’’ said Zimmerman, a Medicare specialist and partner with McDermott Will & Emery. “Health care providers right now are trying to weigh whether they would be better or worse off with the [automatic] cuts or whatever the committee recommends.’’
And even though physicians have managed to stave off deep cuts in the past, jittery health care providers say they feel under attack once again. Doctors already face a 30 percent cut in January to their Medicare payments, said Young, though she acknowledged that in the past, Congress has always managed to fend off the cuts at the 11th hour.
