Doctors Lobbying to Halt Cuts to Medicare Payments

Doctors are mobilizing a nationwide lobbying campaign to stave off cuts in their Medicare fees as Congress hunts for ways to rein in the soaring cost of the insurance program.
Because of a quirk in federal law, Medicare will cut payments to doctors by 4 percent to 5 percent in each of the next six years, Bush administration officials say.
"This is a very difficult problem," Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, said last week. "Unless something changes, there will be quite substantial reductions in physician fees."
Doctors said that if the cuts took effect, they would be less likely to treat Medicare patients because the payments would not cover the costs of care.