subject: New Health Care Law Highlights Addictive Nature Of 'doc Fixes' [print this page] It appears that the concept of 'doc fixes' may just be addictive. The senate has passed four of these fixes in the year 2010, with two of them lasting just thirty days, and the other two lasting no longer than six months.
Because the republican party has had nothing but difficulty stopping the new health care law in its tracks, they are now working on a new plan: to place the democratic party in a tough situation by having to defend the new program, or cut Medicare payments.
Republican lawmakers are now seriously considering using the new health care program's $15 billion public health option to finance a one year 'doc fix' for the new Congressional session.
The last time a fix was passed, it was only a one month plan that was set to expire on December 31, 2010. This fix was designed in order to keep Medicare provider rates from dropping more than twenty-five percent.
The idea of using doc fixes to partially repeal the health care reform has gained a great deal of momentum because it sends a clear message to lawmakers that congress should not create new laws, without the funding that is necessary to take care of existing obligations.
That being said, the idea that Republicans may stop funding for the reform placed a good amount of pressure on the Democrats to come up with a patch that would last for at least a year before the 2010 session expired. While this idea sounded good in theory, Democrats were unable to find the funding, roughly $19 billion, to pay for a fix that would last an entire year.
Many suggestions on funding for the new health care law fixes have come in from both sides of the aisle. The key to finding a successful solution to this problem lies in organization. The new reform needs to be placed on hold until a more wallet friendly, beneficial plan for everyone in America can be drafted, without holding other programs and individuals hostage.
