A bill introduced by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D, Mich.) aims to block the push to prevent Medicare physician pay cuts for 18 months. The legislation, called the Save Medicare Act of 2008, would continue a 0.5 percent physician pay update for the last six months of 2008 and would institute a 1.8 percent update for 2009. Physicians are slated to receive a 10.6 percent cut starting July 1 and an additional cut of about 5 percent in 2009.
 
Advocates for physician pay cuts hope to give seniors and physicians time to make important practice decisions, and allow Congress to come up with a long-term solution.

This article originally appeared in the April 2008 issue of AAKP Public Policy Briefing.