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Preventing Medicare cuts during President’s Day Recess
Though we were successful in preventing a 10% cut to Medicare physician payments in January 2008, Congressional intervention only delayed the cuts for six months. The upcoming President's Day Congressional Recess (February 15-25) is a critical opportunity to reach out to members of the United States Senate and impress on them the importance of meeting their self-imposed deadline of July 1, 2008 for preventing cuts to Medicare that will endanger the access to care of millions of beneficiaries.
To assist you in this endeavor, we have developed several advocacy resources that we encourage you to use in reaching out to your U. S. Senators. Attached you will find a check list of suggested activities to help engage your membership and their elected representatives in a dialogue on the continued need to prevent scheduled cuts. In addition to the check list, you will find several fact sheets on the key aspects of Medicare physician payment, including a fact sheet that may be customized with state or practice specific information. Also included are state-by-state figures on the impact of scheduled cuts between July 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. Finally, because the continued engagement of the public in this effort is critical, you will find included a sample letter to the editor to assist in reaching out to the community on these issues.
As always, if we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to call on us. Thank you for your continued efforts in this ongoing battle to preserve seniors access to physician under the Medicare program.
Richard A. Deem Senior Vice President, Advocacy American Medical Association 25 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Suite 600 Washington, DC 20001-7400
Medicare's Physician Payment Update Formula: The Facts Medicare Payment Cuts for Physician Services by State Sample Medicare Letter to the Editor Medicare Payment Talking Points President's Day Medicare Campaign Checklist
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