This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The US Congress has given its final approval to the so-called “doc fix” bill to repair the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians – marking a rare bipartisan achievement just in time to head off a 21% cut in doctors’ pay.



Final action came as the Senate voted 92-8 on Tuesday in favour of the new law, and President Barack Obama signing it into law is expected to be a mere formality.

The measure, drafted last month by Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, appeared to be the first major legislative accomplishment of the 2015-2016 Congress, suggesting some progress towards easing years of gridlock on Capitol Hill.

Obama has praised the measure and said in March that he wanted to sign it.

The bill would replace a 1990s formula that linked Medicare doctor pay to economic growth, with a new formula more focused on quality of care. It also would require means-testing of Medicare beneficiaries so higher-income people pay higher premiums.

One of the US government’s largest social safety net programmes, Medicare is health insurance that serves 54 million elderly and disabled people.

The old formula for paying Medicare doctors has been a problem for years as health care costs outpaced economic growth. Congress had repeatedly addressed the problem with a long series of temporary “doc fix” patches. The new formula is intended to be a lasting change.

The federal government warned Congress last week that it must act before 15 April or thousands of Medicare doctors nationwide would face a 21% pay cut under the old reimbursement formula.

The deadline for action actually had been 1 April but because Medicare doctors’ claims generally take at least 14 days to be paid by the government the cuts were not expected to be implemented before 15 April.