ENROLLED
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 138
BY REPRESENTATIVE SIMON
A RESOLUTION
To commend the United States Congress on the passage of bipartisan legislation to
permanently set the payment amounts that Medicare pays for physician services,
known as the doc fix.
WHEREAS, the term "doc fix" refers to the formula the federal government uses to
pay physicians treating patients covered by Medicare who pay less than they would
otherwise to see a physician; and
WHEREAS, through the doc fix formula, the federal government makes up the
difference between the physician's rate and the patient's payment and pays the physician an
amount determined by congress; and
WHEREAS, in 1997, congress cut payments to physicians who treat patients enrolled
in Medicare in order to help balance the federal budget; and
WHEREAS, congress had considered a further cut to Medicare physician payments,
but did not have the collective will to carry it through, acknowledging a concern that some
physicians might cease to treat patients at a reduced Medicare rate, and the cut was
postponed until a future date; and
WHEREAS, over the last eighteen years, congress postponed the cut seventeen
times, and the cut would have made a reduction of over twenty percent to physician
payments had the attempt to postpone it once again failed during the current One Hundred
Fourteenth United States Congress; and
WHEREAS, with the doc fix extension set to expire again this year, congress
contemplated the need for structural reforms to Medicare generally, instead of merely
postponing the cut for another year; and
WHEREAS, with a cut in excess of twenty percent looming absent another annual
doc fix extension, congress agreed to consider broader structural changes to Medicare; and
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WHEREAS, these essential changes were incorporated in the Medicare Access and
CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which, when enacted as Public Law 114-10 on April 16,
2015, ended the doc fix problem; and
WHEREAS, a bipartisan solution thus proved attainable even in a time when one
side of the aisle simply entertaining an idea from the other side seems impossible; and
WHEREAS, considering that one political party leads both houses of congress and
the other holds the presidency, true bipartisanship is the only path to successfully addressing
any of the country's pressing issues, yet that bipartisanship is noticeably absent in the
discussion of most of those issues; and
WHEREAS, while partisan differences have been more likely to win the day in
recent years, the ability to craft a bipartisan doc fix solution is evidence that leaders of each
political party in both houses of congress are able to focus on solutions rather than
differences, and for that, the congressional leadership and all members of congress should
be heartily congratulated; and
WHEREAS, in reaching agreement on the end to the doc fix extensions, congress
embarked upon the considerable task of reforming and restructuring a major entitlement
program, a beginning worthy of note and acclaim.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby commend the United States Congress on the passage
of bipartisan legislation to permanently set the payment amounts that Medicare pays for
physician services, known as the doc fix.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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