With little time remaining before Congress adjourns for the year, Senate leaders reached agreement on a Medicare package to fix a 10.1 percent reimbursement cut to physicians that would take effect January 1, 2008.  

The compromise includes a six-month payment update of 0.5 percent to physicians and also extends funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) until March 31, 2009.  Lawmakers had hoped to enact long-term reforms to the physician reimbursment system but Democrats and Republicans disagreed on how best to reach this goal.  One highly contentious issue has been the proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.  Democrats have suggested cutting reimbursement for these plans in order to fund the fix but the White House has said they would veto any Medicare package that included cuts to MA.  The House and Senate have stated they will pass the Medicare package by the end of the week and the White House is expected to support the bill as well.

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