Medicare physician reimbursement rates were scheduled to drop by 21.2 percent on 1/1/2010. Deja Vu – Congress has extended 2009 reimbursement rates through 2/28/2010. If you think this is a lot like what happened at the beginning of 2009, you’d be right. What comes next? See the full article for details:

Under current law, physician reimbursement rates for Medicare are scheduled to drop annually as part of a scheme to help plug a hole in the budget, and for the past few years, Congress has been applying temporary measures to delay these reductions. Ultimately, there needs to be some long term balance between Medicare funding and Medicare spending, and this will become a more critical issue as more Americans become eligible for benefits. Cutting physician reimbursement rates will not solve the financing problem and only creates an obvious new one.

Harry Reid vs. Harry Potter

I have been itching to use that headline since the House health care bill, which is longer than the most recent Harry Potter novel, reached the House floor. While the House bill attempts to provide better reimbursement rates, the current version of the Senate bill does not. Since the House bill was passed by the House, and the Senate bill passed in the Senate, the differences will be worked out in the House/Senate conference committee. I know most people don’t like to know what goes into making laws or sausages, but this is the time when compromises and deals get made, so this is the time to express your concerns about this issue and others in the pending health care bills.

I’ll be covering this and other issues of interest to you, as well as business, strategy, personal and professional issues, and a healthy dose of fun topics.

I wish you and those dear to you a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year!