To change the sustainable growth rate in the Medicare payment formula for physicians will cost between $4.2 billion and $252.2 billion, say House and Senate aides. In March, the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee will make its recommendations to Congress on changing the SGR to comply with the mandated cuts to Medicare physician payment rates, but one House Democratic aide said the proposed solutions aren’t “going to be all that magic” and will still require substantial expense, reports CQ Healthbeat News. One scenario that postpones the cuts for one year and freezes current payment rates would cost $28 billion over 10 years. And another option “to freeze updates for the next 10 years would cost $170.8 billion and even more if lawmakers inserted a clause to keep beneficiaries’ share of premiums stable,” according to the article.
