>Dear Friends:
As Congress returns for what will be one of the closing weeks of this session, one of my top priorities is ensuring that a potential crisis for New Jersey’s health care providers is averted.
Because of the high cost of living and doing business in our state, hospitals and doctors often are short-changed in terms of Medicare reimbursement rates. When the Medicare Modernization Act was signed into law, a provision in it, Section 508, reclassified certain hospitals to higher reimbursement rate status. Regrettably, that provision is set to expire at the end of this calendar year, which would greatly hurt many hospitals in New Jersey’s Fifth District. Another provision set to expire is the increased physician reimbursement rates under Medicare. If this provision is not renewed, physicians could expect to see cuts as high as 5%.
I have been working hard with my colleagues – signing letters and speaking with members of the House leadership – to ensure that extension of these provisions is passed through Congress before the end of the year. In fact, I recently authored a letter to House leadership that over half of the New Jersey Congressional delegation has co-signed, urging them to put extension of these provisions on our agenda before Congress adjourns at the end of this year. While the extension is critical for hospitals and doctors nationwide, my letter put in very real terms how New Jersey health care would be impacted without an extension.
I have been encouraged by the positive response I have been receiving from current House leadership on this matter, and I am very hopeful that we will avert this crisis before the 109th Congress adjourns next month.
Sincerely,
Scott Garrett
Member of Congress
Contacting Rep. Garrett
To send an e-message to Rep. Garrett click here: www.house.gov/formgarrett/contact.shtml
>The Congressman lost his personal physician due to the high cost of running a private family medical practice. His doctor was constantly fighting with Medicare and the Insurance companies for reimbursement for his services to his patients. He was a gifted doctor who truly cared about his patients but couldn’t afford to keep practicing. He left to teach at a medical school. He is one of the reasons that the Congressman feels so strongly about ensuring that our dedicated hard working doctors can afford to continue to practice their profession.