Congresswoman Lois Frankel (FL-22) voted today for the bipartisan agreement to permanently fix the way Medicare pays doctors, bringing long-overdue stability to seniors and providers.  On April 1^st, physicians would have faced major cuts to their payments, forcing many to leave the program and limiting seniors’ choice of doctors.

“Today’s historic bipartisan deal strengthens Medicare for millions of Floridians,” said Frankel. “Without doctors, there is no Medicare.  This fix prevents drastic cuts to physicians’ payments – protecting seniors’ access to care.”

The bill also extends for two years the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that gives millions of poor children access to health care, expands funding by $7.2 billion for community health centers, which provide vital care to families in need, and strengthens Medicare’s ability to fight fraud, including a provision to prohibit Social Security numbers from being displayed on Medicare cards.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 392-37, and it will now head to the Senate.

By the Numbers:

• The permanent fix to Medicare’s physician payment system will provide certainty to 3.6 million Floridians with Medicare that could have lost access to their doctors if they left the program due to a 21 percent cut to their reimbursements.
• Extending CHIP makes sure more than 360,000 children in Florida continue to have health care coverage. (Click here to read more about Rep. Frankel’s advocacy for CHIP).
• Florida is home to 48 federally-funded community health centers that provide care to 1,128,651 patients.
• Each year 1.5 million people are victims of medical identity theft and $50 billion is lost from Medicare annually due to fraud with South Florida being ground zero for these crimes.  (Click here to read more about Rep. Frankel’s work to tackle Medicare fraud).

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