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- Senate drops House “doc fix”
The Senate Finance Committee’s draft reconciliation bill—the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—omits the House version’s effort to address Medicare payment.
While the House version of a “doc fix” provision takes a step forward in Medicare structural reform, it locks in 2025 payment cuts and does not bring pay to last year’s levels until 2029.
- The House bill passed on May 22 took an incremental approach by tying Medicare physician payment updates to the Medicare Economic Index (MEI).
- The CAP signed a June 6 letter to Senate leaders advocating for senators to improve the House proposal by addressing 2025 Medicare cuts and fully implementing annual MEI-based updates.
The missing pay fix was one of many changes unveiled by the Finance Committee on June 16. Notably, the draft also proposes additional cuts to the Medicaid program.
- Other Senate changes, such as measures to lower the costs of student loans, still need clarification.
The big picture: Expect more negotiations and revisions as Congress works to finalize a budget reconciliation package ahead of the July 4 target date for sending a bill to President Trump.
- The CAP is fighting for pathologists and encouraging lawmakers to make necessary changes so patients can continue to receive high-quality care from well-trained physicians.