Group: Tricare Payment cut to Hurt Care

NORFOLK, Va. -- If Congress doesn't intervene, a funding formula will trigger a 21 percent cut in reimbursements to doctors in the Medicare and Tricare programs on March 1, a group of national organizations warned Thursday.

That, the group said, will force doctors to drop out of the programs and make it tougher for elderly and military beneficiaries to get health care.

Representatives of the groups -- AARP, the American Medical Association and the Military Officers Association of America -- appeared in a videoconference from five cities, including Norfolk.

Speaking at the Harbor's Edge retirement home, retired Navy Capt. Kathy Beasley said: "The last thing our troops in combat should have to worry about is whether a sick spouse or child can find a doctor to treat them."

Beasley is deputy director of government relations for the military officers association.

For about a decade, reimbursements in Medicare and Tricare have been governed by the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, which cuts payments when the economy contracts.

Congress usually has stepped in to make up the difference when payment rates are set to drop.

The groups said Washington needs to devise a permanent fix, though they didn't offer a specific alternative.

"Congress has decided the formula," said Dr. Nancy Nielsen, a past president of the American Medical Association. "Congress has to fix the problem."

The issue is separate from, but related to, the health-care reform bill in Washington, said Nielsen, who spoke in Washington. "People need the assurance that they can see a doctor of their choice," she said.

Officials of AARP and the American Medical Association said they remain supportive of health care reform legislation. The military officers association has not taken a position on the bills but is monitoring issues that would affect its members, Beasley said.

Bobbi Andrews, a Harbor's Edge resident who attended the videoconference, wasn't convinced. Health care professionals, like everyone else, should be expected to cut back, she said. "The hospitals and physicians are all making too much money."

Another resident, retired Navy Capt. James Van Pelt, said he wasn't well-versed with payment rates. But he's noticed that "doctors are spending less time with their patients and a lot of money on clerical help."

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