Bush Might Address Medicare Physician Fee Cut, Leavitt Says 

Secretary Mike Leavitt said this week that the budget Bush will release next month might include a proposal to fix the Medicare physician fee cut. Leavitt said that lawmakers cannot continue to patch the fee cut each year. Bush for the first time is required by law to send a Medicare savings proposal to Congress after he proposes his budget because Medicare trustees last year triggered a "Medicare funding warning." The warning is issued when trustees for two consecutive years predict that federal general fund revenue must be used to pay for 45% or more of total Medicare costs within seven years.