<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Verdana;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>First the ACA ( Obamacare ) and now this. Another blow to public healthcare brought to you by sell-out corporate democrats and their allies the republicans<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><b><span style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Grover Norquist Sees Bi-Partisan Doc Fix Deal as “Model of Success” in Privatizing Medicare</span></b><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>by Kay Tillow<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center;background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have worked out a deal, a permanent “doc fix” that would repeal automatic cuts in Medicare payments to physicians. Their bi-partisan solution, if enacted, will plunge a stake into the heart of traditional Medicare, according to health policy expert <a href="http://www.pnhp.org/news/2015/march/emergency-the-mips-stake-is-plunging-into-the-heart-of-traditional-medicare" target="_blank"><b><span style='color:#7C470C;text-decoration:none'>Don McCanne, MD, of Physicians for a National Health Program</span></b></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Social Security Act amendments passed more than a decade ago once again threaten to slash Medicare payments to physicians, this time by 21.2%, as of April 1, 2015. These provisions require automatic cuts based on a formula called the “sustainable growth rate.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Each time these cuts threaten to kick in, Democrats and Republicans alike look for a solution to stop the harmful cuts. Now Boehner and Pelosi have agreed on a permanent solution, a plan that stops those cuts, but at the unacceptable price of inflicting devastating damage on Medicare.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The Boehner/Pelosi-backed bill, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/1470/text" target="_blank"><b><span style='color:#7C470C;text-decoration:none'>HR 1470</span></b></a> “SGR Repeal and Medicare Provider Payment Modernization Act of 2015” is cosponsored by progressive James McDermott (D-WA), anti-Medicare Republican Paul Ryan (R-WI), and seven others from both parties. The bill would replace the current formula for physician reimbursements with a new Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>MIPS is an administrative nightmare, says McCanne. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Expensive consultants will game the system bringing in additional incentive payments while those who work with disadvantaged patient populations will find it difficult to score higher points, predicts McCanne. Those who serve less wealthy populations will see negative payment adjustments by up to 9%.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>MIPS robs from the professionals who are trying to make the system work for their patients and gives the spoils to those who likely have consultants to show them how to game the system, says McCanne.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>MIPS will apply only to traditional Medicare, promoting an exodus of physicians from traditional Medicare into the private for-profit Medicare Advantage plans.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The deal would also reward remote patient-monitoring and telehealth as clinical practice improvement activities, reports <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150319/NEWS/150319867" target="_blank"><b><span style='color:#7C470C;text-decoration:none'>Darius Tahir of Modern Healthcare</span></b></a>. That can create big bucks for health information technology but does not portend well for patients who need hands on caring professionals.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>According to <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/medicare/235897-boehners-200-billion-gamble-will-divide-gop" target="_blank"><b><span style='color:#7C470C;text-decoration:none'>The Hill’s Scott Wong and Peter Sullivan</span></b></a>, the deal will be paid for through a combination of means testing -- that is, making wealthier seniors pay more for Medicare -- and reforms to the supplemental health insurance plans known as Medigap. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Medigap policies would have to make the patients pay the first $250, providing the “skin in the game,” that ugly, inhumane concept so popular with insurance companies. The further means testing of Medicare threatens its broad based popular support as a benefit for all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>“The increased beneficiary cost-sharing included in the SGR reform proposal could work hand-in-hand with the larger House GOP Medicare plan by prodding seniors to choose the lower-cost private Medicare plans envisioned under the budget blueprint. That would advance their long-held goal of turning Medicare into a privatized, means-tested welfare program and getting the government out of the health insurance business,” reports <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150318/BLOG/303189965" target="_blank"><b><span style='color:#7C470C;text-decoration:none'>Harris Meyer in Modern Healthcare</span></b></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform and known for wanting to shrink government small enough to be drowned in a bathtub, likes the Boehner/Pelosi deal. <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/medicare/235897-boehners-200-billion-gamble-will-divide-gop" target="_blank"><b><span style='color:#7C470C;text-decoration:none'>Norquist says</span></b></a> the “doc fix” deal could be a “model of success” for a larger entitlement deal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The bill, <a href="http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20150319/NEWS/303189967/house-senate-leaders-unveil-permanent-doc-fix-bills" target="_blank"><b><span style='color:#7C470C;text-decoration:none'>negotiated in secrecy,</span></b></a> is being steamrolled and is predicted to come to a vote this week. Those who cherish Medicare as our nation’s best yet health program should sound the alarm. A stab in the heart of Medicare is not a compromise but a complete and disastrous sell-out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='background:white'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Article originally appeared on <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/23/1372791/-Grover-Norquist-sees-bi-partisan-doc-fix-deal-as-model-of-success-in-privatizing-Medicare" target="_blank"><span style='color:#0000CC'>Daily Kos</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>