Reps. Wild and Miller-Meeks, Lead 113 Bipartisan colleagues, Urge Action Preventing Looming Medicare Cuts

Washington, D.C. –Yesterday, U.S. Representatives Susan Wild (PA-07) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, M.D. (IA-02), led a bipartisan letter to President Biden, Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority Leader McCarthy urging swift action to prevent the looming Medicare cuts.

Reps. Wild and Miller-Meeks were joined by 113 colleagues urging action to prevent Medicare reimbursement cuts that would force medical groups and integrated systems of care to "eliminate services, furlough staff, implement hiring freezes, and delay population health initiatives."

"We are opposed to paying for preventing these cuts with additional provider cuts," the lawmakers continued. "The combination of skyrocketing expenses, significant staffing shortages and looming cuts to Medicare payments will only make a bad situation far worse – especially for seniors in rural and underserved areas who continue to face health care access issues. Physicians, in particular, do not receive inflationary updates in the Medicare program and, as a result, we urge Congressional intervention to prevent the entirety of these cuts. Anything short of this is still a cut that hurts providers and the patients that they treat."

"As hospitals across Iowa continue to face unprecedented financial challenges because of rising costs, workforce needs and diminished Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, an additional cut to Medicare through the PAYGO sequester would be catastrophic to hospitals and threaten to restrict Iowans access to care," said Iowa Hospital Association President and CEO Chris Mitchell. "We thank Representative Miller-Meeks for her steadfast support on this issue and her efforts to prevent these cuts."

"We are thankful for Representatives Wild and Miller-Meeks recognizing the financial strain hospitals like ours are experiencing and their leadership in urging their colleagues to stop the provider cuts," said Lehigh Valley Health Network Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer Michael A. Rossi, MD, MBA. "Hospitals are already doing more with less as supply, medicine, and staffing costs continue to rise. We're seeing more patients than ever before while also adapting to a national shortage of healthcare workers. The demand for world-class care closer to home requires us to reinvest in innovative technologies and modern facilities. We appreciate the support from Congresswomen Wild and Miller-Meeks in leading the charge to stop the cuts and urging their colleagues to join them."

"Seniors and physicians are counting on Congress to fend off the 4.5 percent cut to Medicare payments," said American Medical Association President Jack Resneck Jr., M.D.. "This bipartisan letter recognizes that Medicare cuts are not a partisan football, but a very real threat to health care access. Physician practices have struggled to keep their doors open and continue to treat Medicare patients in the face of COVID and high inflation. We're grateful to Reps. Wild and Miller Meeks for recognizing the threat of payment cuts and hope their colleagues listen."

"The AHA appreciates Representatives Wild and Miller-Meeks' leadership in addressing the unprecedented financial challenges facing hospitals and health systems, which threaten to jeopardize access to critical services," saidAmerican Hospital Association Senior Vice President of Legislative and Political Affairs Lisa Kidder Hrobsky. "Medicare cuts – on top of the current sequestration cuts and increased expenses from supply chain disruptions, workforce shortages, and labor and drug costs – would be devastating to America's hospitals and health systems and the patients that rely on them.

"We applaud the efforts of Representatives Wild and Miller-Meeks in leading this bipartisan effort to prevent harmful cuts to Medicare reimbursement," said American Medical Group Association President and CEO Jerry Penso, M.D., M.B.A.. The potential impact to patient care is very real – in a survey of AMGA member medical groups and health systems, over 65% indicated they would be forced to eliminate services if Congress does not take action to block the Medicare cuts. To protect our patients, communities, and healthcare system, we need all of Congress to take notice and act."

Reps. Wild and Miller-Meeks are joined in sending the letter by Representatives Colin Allred (D-TX-32), Don Bacon (R-NE-02), Ami Bera (D-CA-07), Sanford Bishop Jr. (D-GA-02), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR-01), Brendan Boyle (D-PA-02), Julia Brownley (D-CA-26), Shontel Brown (D-OH-11), Larry Bucshon (R-IN-08), G.K. Butterfield (D-NC-01), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL-20), Lou Correa (D-CA-46), Jim Costa (D-CA-16), Angie Craig (D-MN-02), Jason Crow (D-CO-06), Sharice Davids (D-KS-03), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-12), Neal Dunn (D-FL-02), Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16), Anna Eshoo (D-CA-18), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY-13), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX-07), Andrew Garbarino (R-NY-02), Jesús "Chuy" García (D-IL-04), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05), Vicky Hartzler (R-MO-04), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), Sara Jacobs (D-CA-53), Hank Johnson (D-GA-04), John Joyce (R-PA-13), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Bill Keating (D-MA-09), Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), Trent Kelly (R-MI-01), Ro Khanna (D-CA-17), Daniel Kildee (D-MI-05), Derek Kilmer (D-WA-06), Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ-02), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Ann Kuster (D-NH-02), Conor Lamb (D-PA-17), Jim Langevin (D-RI-02), John Larson (D-CT-01), Susie Lee (D-NV-03), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM-03), Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), Ted Lieu (D-CA-33), Stephen Lynch (D-MA-08), Kathy Manning (D-NC-06), Lucy McBath (D-GA-06), David McKinley (R-WV-01), Grace Meng (D-NY-06), Kweisi Mfume (D-MD-07), Alexander Mooney (R-WV-02), Joe Morelle (D-NY-25), Frank Mrvan (D-IN-01), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10), Grace Napolitano (D-CA-32), Joe Neguse (D-CO-02), Donald Norcross (D-NJ-01), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Tom O'Halleran (D-AZ-01), Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20), Chris Pappas (D-NH-01), Chellie Pingree (D-MA-01), Stacey Plaskett (D-VI), Bill Posey (R-FL-08), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA-14), Tom Rice (R-SC-07), Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), Raul Ruiz (D-CA-36), Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD-02), Bobby Rush (D-IL-01), Pat Ryan (D-NY-19), Gregorio Sablan (D-MP), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27), Linda Sánchez (D-CA-38), Michael San Nicolas (D-GU), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), Kim Schrier (D-WA-08), Terri Sewell (D-AL-07), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ-11), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI-08), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-01), Greg Stanton (D-AZ-09), Haley Stevens (D-MI-11), Thomas Suozzi (D-NY-03), Eric Swalwell (D-CA-15), Glenn Thompson (R-PA-15), William Timmons (R-SC-04), Dina Titus (D-NV-01), Paul Tonko (D-NY-20), Norma Torres (D-CA-35), Ritchie Torres (D-NY-15), Lori Trahan (D-MA-03), David Trone (D-MD-06), David Valadao (R-CA-21), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ-02), Marc Veasey (D-TX-33), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY-07), Nikema Williams (D-GA-05).

Supporting this letter are the following organizations: the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Medical Group Association (AMGA), the American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the Surgical Care Coalition, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and the Society of Interventional Radiology, Iowa Hospital Association, Lehigh Valley Health Network.

The full text of the letter is available below:

Dear President Biden, Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority Leader McCarthy,

We write today as a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging you to act quickly to prevent the more than 8 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement that will directly impact patients in this country. Reducing Medicare payments by more than 8 percent, which comes on the heels of the 2 percent sequestration cut resuming earlier this year, would directly harm our nation's medical groups, physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers who care for our communities.

As you know, in addition to the 2 percent Medicare sequestration cut that went into full effect in July, these drastic reimbursement reductions are being driven by the 4 percent Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) requirement and the 4.47 percent cut to the Medicare conversion factor which affects many health care providers, including physicians. Compounded by workforce shortages, increased costs and supply chain issues, and the ongoing ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, these cuts will impact the ability of providers to care for their patients. In fact, we have heard from provider organizations that if these additional Medicare cuts are not prevented, medical groups and integrated systems of care would be forced to eliminate services, furlough staff, implement hiring freezes, and delay population health initiatives. Congress must ensure that Medicare providers continue to have the necessary financial support to care for our nation's seniors who rely on Medicare.

Providers will face cuts of more than 10 percent to Medicare payments on Jan. 1, 2023, which includes the 2 percent sequestration policy already in effect. We are opposed to paying for preventing these cuts with additional provider cuts. The combination of skyrocketing expenses, significant staffing shortages and looming cuts to Medicare payments will only make a bad situation far worse – especially for seniors in rural and underserved areas who continue to face health care access issues. Physicians, in particular, do not receive inflationary updates in the Medicare program and, as a result, we urge Congressional intervention to prevent the entirety of these cuts. Anything short of this is still a cut that hurts providers and the patients that they treat. We appreciate your attention to this critical issue and look forward to working together to ensure these cuts are prevented.

Sincerely,

CC: Chairwoman Murray, Chairman Wyden, Chairman Neal, and Chairman Pallone

###