The Hill Talks: The State of Medicare Physician Payments

As baby boomers age, the demand for doctors who care for seniors and accept Medicare insurance is skyrocketing. At the same time, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed an almost 3 percent reduction in physician payments this year, making it the fifth consecutive year of payment cuts. The medical community maintains inflation, operational costs, and consumer prices have increased while Medicare physician pay has declined.

How will another year of Medicare physician payment cuts impact patients? What are the implications if payments to doctors fall below the cost of delivering care? How is rising inflation, labor shortages and the demands of an aging population affecting medical providers? What impacts do these pay cuts have on the broader health care system? And what should Congress do?