Congressional Leaders Impose 21-Percent Cut to Medicare and Medicare Doctors

June 23, 2010 (LPAC)— The fanatics leading the Democratic Party in the House and Senate have succeeded in imposing a 21% cut to all Medicare and Medicaid doctors, which will force countless doctors to stop taking poor patients, and result in countless deaths. Nancy Pelosi announced today that she will not take up the "fix" that gets passed every year to stop the mandated 21% cut, because of disagreements with the Senate leadership over the way the bill was passed in the Senate. Harry Reid separated the fix from a broader extension bill that included unemployment, homebuyer credits, and other issues, when Republicans and some Democrats held up the extension bill as too expensive, demanding matching cuts elsewhere in the budget.

The 21% cut officially took effect on June 1, but the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (MMS) twice told doctors they would not process claims until the bill passed. However, the MMS began enforcing the cuts last Friday, June 18, and will process an estimated 50 million claims the agency had been holding since June 1, with the 21% cut included. If the fix is eventually passed, the doctors will be reimbursed — but how many people can hold out, and for how long, and how many will die in the meantime?

NÝTT: Á HJARA VERALDAR