MINNEAPOLIS, April 2, 2008—A delegation of MMA leaders took part this week in the AMA house call being held in Washington to impress upon members of Congress that physicians in Minnesota and elsewhere are impatient for real Medicare reform.

Quick slideshow from the Washington march

Representing the MMA in the push to lobby Congress to fix Medicare's problems were President James J. Dehen Jr., M.D., President-elect George Schoephoerster, M.D., CEO Robert Meiches, M.D., and Director of Federal and State Legislation Dave Renner. 

"We had good talks with Senator (Amy) Klobuchar (DFL-Minn.), Congressman (Jim) Ramstad, (R-3rd District), and staff people from Senator (Norm) Coleman's (R-Minn.) office," said Dehen.

"They're all aware of the problem," Dehen said. "They all know the Medicare formula needs fixing. We encouraged them to support the Stabenow bill (S.2785), but in fairness to them, that bill is still pretty new and they were not entirely familiar with it yet."

"I'm not optimistic that any action will be taken prior to the election," Dehen said.

The Wednesday house call came in the wake of the release last week of a report by the trustees of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which warned that Medicare is simply not funded to meet the medical needs of seniors over the next 10 years.

The American Medical Association welcomed the report's candor, but insisted that Congress had to act immediately to make Medicare solvent and keep its promises to seniors.

“Once again, Medicare’s trustees have rung the alarm bell that the long-term fiscal solvency of the program is in serious trouble," said Edward Langston, M.D., chair of the AMA board.

Langston called on Congress to create a "viable safety net" for future generations of seniors, and promised to lead the house call today to demand change.

Minnesota physicians constituted a strong presence in Washington. Representing East Metro Medical Society and West Metro Medical Society were Peter Wilton, M.D., Charles Terzian, M.D., Stephanie Stanton, M.D., Richard D Schmidt, M.D., Edward Ehlinger, M.D., and West Metro CEO Jack Davis and East Metro CEO Sue Schettle.

Wednesday was a day for medical students to join in the effort. Both Nick Zane and Andrew Landstrom, med students from Mayo Medical School, spoke to members of Congress about Medicare, the need to cover the uninsured, and the need to alleviate medical student debt.

Also taking part in the activities was Jim Sieben, a member of the governmental affairs committee for the Minnesota Medical Group Management Association.

"Cutting Medicare physician payments 41 percent over nine years while practice costs increase is penny-wise and pound foolish," Langston said last week. "Trying to save Medicare money by slashing physician payments will ruin the physician foundation of Medicare for current and future generations of seniors."

Langston quoted a survey saying that 60 percent of physicians say this year’s cut alone will force them to limit the number of new Medicare patients they can treat. "Couple this fact with a physician shortage and the huge influx of baby boomers soon to enter Medicare, and the outlook for Medicare patients’ access to care is grim."

He called on Congress to take immediate action to preserve seniors’ access to care as the first cut begins this July – and will total more than 15 percent by the end of 2009. 

Langston called on physicians to support the Save Medicare Act of 2008 (S.2785), which will replace 18 months of cuts with payment updates that better reflect medical practice cost increases. 

The MMA has urged members to write to their Senators asking them to co-sponsor S.2785.