(Reuters) — Congress today approved a bill to repair the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians, marking a rare bipartisan achievement just in time to head off a 21% cut in the doctors’ pay.
The powerful finance committee in the U.S. Senate is preparing to hold hearings on repealing the medical device tax, starting with the healthcare subcommittee chaired by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.).
(Reuters) — The U.S. Senate will wait more than 2 weeks before acting on a bill to permanently fix the flawed formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians, after an April 1 deadline to start a 21% cut in payment rates.
The junior senator from Massachusetts, Sen. Ed Markey (D.-Mass), wants to eliminate the medical device tax and replace the lost revenue by eliminating tax loopholes for the energy industry.
(Reuters) — U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said today that prospects are good for passage of a permanent fix to Medicare’s flawed doctor-pay formula that would spare physicians from impending steep pay cuts.
Republicans in the U.S. Senate, hoping to pass the 1st budget since 2013, released a budget proposal yesterday that includes language to repeal the 2.3% medical device tax enacted as part of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The medical device industry doled out more than $4.5 million to legislators on Capitol Hill last year, with most of the donations going to Republicans and incumbents, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org website.
(Reuters) — The U.S. House of Representatives added another notch to its lengthy record of Obamacare repeal votes yesterday by approving a measure that would scrap the healthcare law and direct oversight committees to come up with a replacement.
(Reuters) — Three top U.S. Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), will lead an effort to craft new health reforms that could replace Obamacare, party officials said last week.
Medtech executives last week bashed a newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service refuting claims that the medical device tax kills jobs and hampers innovation.