After more than two years of hard work and persistence on the part of organized
medicine, the House and Senate have passed the Omnibus Appropriations package (H. J. Res.
2) which includes plans to fix the Medicare payment issue.
This ensures that the impending March 1 cut of 4.4 percent will not take effect. In fact,
the Medicare provision in the package will result in a 1.6 percent increase in payments
this year, which will increase physician payments by $54 billion over 10 years.
The physician payment error was a the result of mistakes made in 1998 and 1999, when the
Administration underestimated the nation's gross domestic product and the omitted the cost
of medical care for one million seniors.
The AMA, and the AMC/NOMA through our grassroots efforts along with many other medical
associations have been working hard to correct this mistake. Thank you to every AMC/NOMA
member that wrote to his or her representative regarding this critical issue.