This week in Congress:
Congress has recently returned from a long holiday recess when many members were chastened by constituents’ criticism of their performance. However, increased bi-partisanship and improved legislative productivity are not on the congressional horizon. Instead, congressional plans include only very modest legislative output up through the November election, with many major decisions pushed off until December and next year. In health care, the House plans to address Medicare physician payments and will consider, but not enact, legislation to advance Medicare premium support and to repeal and replace the President’s health care reform act. Meanwhile, the Senate expects to accomplish little more than addressing Medicare physician fee payments. The most pressing health item on the agenda is fixing Medicare fees for physicians. See AMHCA’s latest report for details.
(January 27, 2012)
|