Physicians fleeced by Congress. AMA claims victory

In a story that is becoming all too old, physicians are being fleeced again by Congress, and the medical organizations claiming to represent physicians are deceiving their members about it.

In this case, the American Medical Association sent out an email blast last week to its membership trumpeting its success in blocking legislation that would have cut Medicare reimbursements to physicians. But they left out a critical element: The legislation still cuts Medicare reimbursements to physicians. Here’s the lead to their short email:

“The AMA had a major win at the federal level last week. Congress passed legislation that would have halted physician payment cuts that would have cost physician practices billions of dollars starting on January 1. President Biden signed the bill into law Friday.”

However, their proclaimed major win was actually to reduce the degree of the cuts. But the cuts remain real. That’s akin to saying that the team was going to lose by 14 points, but only lost by 7 — and then proclaiming it a major win. It’s still a loss.

Here’s the rest of the story, according to MedPage Today: 

The bill passed by a vote of 222-212 on Wednesday in the House and 59-35 on Thursday in the Senate. Under the measure -- known as the "Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act," -- the 4% PAYGO cut was delayed 1 year, until 2023; the 3.75% fee schedule cut was dropped to a 0.75% cut; and the 2% sequester cut was delayed until April, when it will start at 1% before going back up to 2% in July. As a result, doctors will instead see a 0.75% cut from January through March, a 1.75% cut from April through June, and a 2.75% cut from July through December.

This is the huge victory that the AMA was bragging about in its email: By July of next year, physicians accepting Medicare will see a 2.75% cut to their reimbursements. Remember, this is at a time when inflation is up to 7% this year and many economists expect it to be higher next year. Medical equipment and supplies tend to travel well above the CPI’s index for inflation.

In the broad picture, Medicare has increased its reimbursements to physicians over the past decades on average 1-2%. But health care costs have increased 3-4% during the same time period. The result has been an ongoing erosion of the financial condition of physicians. But now, after the failure of medical organizations such as the AMA to adequately represent physicians, Congress is actually cutting reimbursements multiple times over the next year.

And the AMA declares this is a major win. With successes like these, who needs failures?

Once again, the reality that physicians experience is that the organizations representing them in Washington, D.C, are failing them. Those groups offer lip service to fighting for physicians but end up prioritizing culturally correct fads that frequently infringe on the physician-patient relationship, and therein lose sight of their real purpose. This happens over and over again, and physicians get the short end. It is with reduced reimbursements amidst soaring costs this time. But this is a regular occurrence. 

The United States Medical Association is a group of physicians and others who have seen firsthand the shifting medical landscape and the lack of any real representation — sometimes even representation working against our interests by major organizations that are supposed to be watching out for us — such as this egregious law in Michigan. Those organizations are not watching out for physicians, but the USMA will.

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