NEWS FLASH

The Politics Of The SGR Fix | Inside Health Policy’s John Wilkerson reports that doctors lobbyists were happy to see the Gang of Six deficit proposal include a fix to the SGR formula, but remain concerned by the details — particularly how Congress plans to pay for the change. The plan would offset the estimated $298 billion physician payment fix “with yet-to-be-identified health care savings that would be coupled with up to $202 billion in additional health care cuts to reduce the deficit, setting up a challenging task for congressional leaders if the plan moves forward.” Wilkerson notes that “Republicans have been trying to keep physician payment reform out of the debt-limit talks because they want to keep the issue as political leverage to push other measures, such as a repeal of the health reform law’s individual mandate,” but “have softened their position in recent weeks, possibly because they worry that physicians would be angry at Republicans who would have to scramble at the last minute for a temporary pay patch.”