Medicare: Bill signed sparing docs from Medicare payments cut (for now)
Medicare payment cut for doctors has been temporarily put off. Obama signed a bill Friday sparing doctors through November.
President Obama participates in a national tele-town hall meeting at the Holiday Park Multipurpose Senior Center in Wheaton, Maryland with senior citizens to discuss the Affordable Care Act and ways to combat scams targeting senior citizens on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.
NEWSCOM
Washington
President Barack Obama has signed a bill that temporarily spares doctors from a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments.
The measure delays cuts through the end of November while lawmakers work on a more permanent solution.
There was some urgency to approve the $6.5 billion bill. Medicare officials announced last week that the program would begin processing claims it had already received for June at the lower rate.
The money had been part of a larger bill to extend unemployment benefits for laid-off workers and provide states with billions of dollars to avert layoffs. That bill has been blocked by Senate Republicans because of the cost.