Health law mandates higher Medicare payment for osteoporosis tests

Jun 1 2010

The Boston Globe: "A $3 million campaign by doctors, scanner operators, manufacturers, and groups devoted to women's health helped persuade lawmakers to overrule Medicare administrators this year and restore much of the reimbursement for osteoporosis tests. In a little-noticed provision buried deep in the sweeping new health care bill, Congress decreed that Medicare shall pay $97 for each test, instead of $50. It was a stark instance of a narrowly tailored, special-interest political victory in a law trumpeted by President Obama and Democrats as putting America on a path to a more rational health care system, where decisions are made on medical evidence and patient outcomes. … Some also wonder if it is a harbinger of more political fights over health pricing, as the medical industry tries to resist government efforts to link Medicare and Medicaid payments to things like medical evidence and patient outcomes." (Rowland, 5/31).

The New York Times "Members of Congress from Iowa, Minnesota, Washington and Wisconsin secured extra money in the new health care law to reward low-cost hospitals in their states, which they said had long been underpaid by Medicare. But it now turns out that New York will get more of the money than any other state, and some of the chief proponents of the bonus payments will not receive any" (Pear, 5/30).