Audio

Avoiding the Fiscal Cliff: The Policy & Practice Podcast

Publish date: December 3, 2012

 

The fiscal cliff looms. The country faces a combination of spending cuts and tax increases on Jan. 1 if Congress can’t broker a deal to stop them. But what does that mean for doctors? Well, they'll face a 2% across-the-board cut, in addition to the impending 27% cut to their Medicare reimbursements. Some experts say a 2% cut is the best deal physicians are going to get.

MrIncredible/istockphoto.com

Meanwhile, some states are still deciding whether to participate in the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. A new study from the Urban Institute and the Kaiser Family Foundation suggests states could face less of the financial burden of supporting Medicaid if they go for the expansion. Even in states with more uninsured residents, which could face higher expansion costs, states would see a decrease in uncompensated care costs, according to the report.

In other news, the ACA could be heading back to court. A lower court was recently asked to take a second look at the law’s requirement that employers offer contraceptive coverage without cost sharing. The plaintiff, Liberty University, claims the provision violates First Amendment guarantees of religious freedom. If the court accepts that argument, the case could head to the Supreme Court next year. For more details on that, check out this week’s Policy & Practice podcast.

--Frances Correa (@FMCReporting)

Next Article:

IOM Committee Calls for Centralized Financial Disclosure Database