[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19167]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                MEDICARE

  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, during the August recess, I 
heard from many physicians in Nebraska who are concerned about the 
looming cut in their Medicare payments. If Congress does not act soon, 
Nebraska's doctors will face a $17 million loss next year. In addition, 
the cuts are scheduled to continue for the following 8 years if they 
are not reversed. During this time period, each Nebraska physician will 
lose $27,000 annually.
  Physicians want to serve Nebraska's seniors, but they simply cannot 
afford to accept an unlimited number of new Medicare patients into 
their practices if Medicare payments do not keep up with the cost of 
providing care.
  In addition to listening to my constituents, I also think it is 
helpful to listen to experts when making policy decisions. Medicare 
payment policy can be quite complicated, so Congress established the 
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, MedPAC, to make recommendations 
to us. MedPAC consists of a group of health experts that annually makes 
Medicare policy recommendations to Congress. For next year, MedPAC 
recommended that Congress eliminate the scheduled payment cut and 
instead raise physician payments by 2.7 percent.
  I think we should listen to Nebraska's doctors and policy experts and 
stop the Medicare cut. We are running out of time. Congress must act 
now to stop the impending cuts. America's seniors and our health 
professionals deserve no less.

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