House Votes To Delay Medicare Physician Payment Cut

Congress agreed this week to a one-month delay in Medicare payment cuts to doctors, giving a short-term reprieve to a looming crisis over treatment of the nation's elderly. By approving by voice vote the bill passed by the Senate earlier in November the House has postponed a 23 percent cut in doctors' pay scheduled to take effect Dec. 1. This reprieve gives lawmakers a month to come up with a longer-term plan to overhaul a system that in recent years has bedeviled Congress, angered doctors and jeopardized health care for 46 million elderly and disabled. Organized medicine continues to urge lawmakers to act in order to avoid another cut scheduled to take effect in January. The bill now goes to President Obama for his signature.