Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Seniors’ Access to Healthcare

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), John Boozman (R-AR), Peter Welch (D-VT), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Angus King (I-ME), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) are leading efforts to protect access to Medicare services by reforming the program’s physician fee schedule with the introduction of the Physician Fee Stabilization Act.

The legislation would increase the budget neutrality threshold to $53 million with an increase every five years to keep pace with the Medicare Economic Index. This is a critical step forward to ensure greater flexibility in determining pricing adjustments for services without triggering harmful annual payment cuts to Medicare-serving physicians. The budget neutrality threshold was last updated in 1992.

“This legislation is a great step forward to provide stability for physicians serving our most vulnerable populations,” Marshall said. “Medicare payment changes have been severely impacting doctors in rural Kansas and nationwide since I was practicing. It’s time to implement meaningful reforms. I am proud to support this bill and look forward to working with Senator Boozman to help physicians everywhere.”

“Medicare patients must have access to quality health services. Ensuring physicians are fairly compensated for their work will help deliver stability to providers so they continue to meet the needs of their communities. I’m proud to lead this bipartisan solution that enhances Medicare’s sustainability,” Boozman said.

“So many Vermonters rely on Medicare for their health care coverage – it’s critical that their health care providers are fairly compensated,” said Welch. “This commonsense, bipartisan bill updates an outdated, decades-old policy that triggers harmful cuts to provider payments. We’re working across the aisle to ensure providers in Vermont, and in rural communities around the country, can keep treating Medicare patients and get reimbursed fairly for the care they provide.”   

“The nearly two million Medicare beneficiaries in North Carolina expect timely access to quality care,” said Tillis. “Year after year, we’ve seen consistent Medicare reimbursement cuts to physicians that adversely impact access to care and patient outcomes – and just last month, Medicare proposed yet another three percent cut to physician reimbursement. This bipartisan legislation makes long-overdue changes to outdated policies to ensure physicians are adequately reimbursed, and seniors have uninterrupted access to care.”

“Accessible and reliable healthcare is essential for seniors across Maine, especially for those in our most rural communities,” said King. “The Physician Fee Stabilization Act would ensure that Medicare providers are adequately paid so that they can continue to offer their full range of services to Maine’s Medicare beneficiaries. I want to thank my colleagues for prioritizing the healthcare and well-being of our older Americans.”

“It’s critical we do all we can to ensure that Granite Staters who rely on Medicare for health insurance have access to the quality, affordable care they need,” said Shaheen. “This bipartisan bill would make sure physicians are fairly compensated and guarantee adequate reimbursement for providers, which would help strengthen Medicare’s dependability for patients now and into the future.”

The Physician Fee Stabilization Act has support from nationwide health organizations including the American Medical Association (AMA), American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), American Optometric Association (AOA), Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS), American College of Surgeons (ACS), American Osteopathic Association (AOA), National Rural Health Association (NRHA), American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM), American College of Radiology (ACR), American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), Alliance of Specialty Medicine (ASM), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), American Urological Association (AUA), American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), American Academy of Ophthalmology (AOA), American Psychiatric Association (APA), American College of Physicians (ACF), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and American College of Cardiology (ACC).

The senators are advocates of protecting access to Medicare services. In February, Boozman and Welch led an effort to ensure providers who treat Medicare patients are adequately compensated that resulted in the mitigation of a drastic cut in the reimbursement rate.