Congress Misses Medicare Payment Cut Deadline

Congress Misses Medicare Payment Cut Deadline

A missed deadline by Congress may mean many of the country's 44 million Medicare patients will have a harder time finding a doctor -- piquing the frustration of many physicians who already care for these patients.

On Friday, the Senate adjourned for its traditional Memorial Day break without eliminating a physician payment cut for treatments to Medicare patients that took effect today, which means that the country's doctors may soon be paid 21.3 percent less to treat Medicare patients.

In a statement issued Friday, Dr. James Rohack, president of the American Medical Association, expressed outrage.

"The Senate has turned its back on seniors," Rohack said in the statement. "Senators are more interested in heading home for the holiday than in preventing a Medicare meltdown for seniors... Already, about one in four Medicare patients looking for a new primary care physician have trouble finding one, and Congressional inaction will make it much worse."