Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Congressional Medicare advisers are recommending that lawmakers increase doctors' Medicare payments for next year.
Why it matters: Lawmakers don't have to act on the recommendations. But the calls from MedPAC could add pressure in a growing campaign to get Congress to change the way Medicare pays physicians.
State of play: Congress should enact policies that increase doctors' Medicare payments an average of 5.7% for primary care clinicians and 2.5% for other clinicians in 2026, MedPAC voted Thursday.
- The change would increase Medicare spending between $10 billion and $25 billion over five years, MedPAC estimates.
What they're saying: "The Medicare payment system is broken. MedPAC has come up with a thoughtful response that heads in the right direction," Bruce Scott, president of the American Medical Association, said in a statement.
- "Congress must prioritize Medicare reform this year. The status quo is unsustainable and unhealthy for our country."
For acute care hospitals, MedPAC voted to recommend that Congress increase Medicare base payments 1% above the amount specified in current law.
- Congress should also add $4 billion to the pool for payments to safety-net hospitals and change the way it distributes the safety-net payments.
MedPAC will also recommend a 3% decrease in Medicare payments for nursing homes and a 7% decrease for both home health and inpatient rehabilitation providers.
- The commission estimates that each of these proposals would save from $10 billion to $25 billion over five years, which could make up for the cost of increasing physician and hospital payments.
