April 4, 2005
Doctors Lobbying to Halt Cuts to Medicare Payments
By ROBERT PEAR

WASHINGTON, April 3 - Doctors are mobilizing a nationwide lobbying
campaign to stave off cuts in their Medicare fees as Congress hunts
for ways to rein in the soaring cost of the insurance program.

Because of a "quirk" in federal law <...no doubt completely
coincidental and utterly "unintentional"...> , Medicare will cut
payments to doctors by 4 percent to 5 percent in each of the next six
years, Bush administration officials say.

"This is a very difficult problem," Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary
of health and human services, said last week. "Unless something
changes, there will be quite substantial reductions in physician
fees."

Doctors said that if the cuts took effect, they would be less likely
to treat Medicare patients because the payments would not cover the
costs of care...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/politics/04docs.html?
ex=1113278400&en=bf1d8aca03babbf1&ei=5070