March 20, 2014 | Comments Off on Sustainable Growth Rate Update
Posted by Frank Ciesla
The AMA forwarded the attached letter (http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/washington/medicare-sgr-letter-to-senate-leadership-18march2014.pdf) in regard to the sustainable growth rate to both the House and the Senate. It now appears that the best that will happen before March 31st is a temporary fix extending the delay while members of Congress work out a resolution. While there appears to be an agreement on the solution for repealing the Sustainable Growth Rate, there does not appear to be an agreement on how that solution will be paid for. Funding being proposed by Senator Ron Wyden would use the funds that are freed up by the reduction in armed forces involved in the hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan to fund the cost of the solution to the Sustainable Growth Rate. As pointed out by various commentators, the problem with this solution is that those funds have already been spent in the budget proposed by the President.