FederalDaily - July 20, 2006
AMA Says Cuts Threaten Access to Medicare,
TRICARE
The American Medical Association (AMA) used a July 18 “house
call” to Florida as an opportunity to drive home what it
characterized as an impending crisis for Medicare and TRICARE
patients in the state and throughout the country. AMA said in
a release that if Congress does not halt Medicare payment cuts
slated for Jan. 1, 2007, “physicians will be forced to make
difficult decisions about the number of patients they are able
to treat” under Medicare—and under the TRICARE benefit
program for active-duty, reserve and retired military and their
families, which ties its rates to Medicare. According to AMA board
member Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD, “If Congress doesn't act soon,
Medicare and TRICARE patients could have a hard time finding a
physician." Maj. Gen. Robert Lynn (Ret.), a representative
of the Military Officers Association of America, said cuts to
Medicare physician payments would threaten the healthcare of more
than 9 million military members and their families. “When
our men and women in uniform are sent in harm’s way, the
last thing they need is to worry about is whether their families
will be able to find a TRICARE physician.” For more information,
go to: www.patientsactionnetwork.com/index.aspx
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Vets Irked by Withdrawal of Monitoring
Offer
Veterans expressed their concern over the decision of the White
House Budget Office to cancel the free credit monitoring it pledged
in June to more than 26 million veterans and their families after
personal data was stolen from a Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) official. The White House told House Speaker Dennis Hastert,
R-Ill., that—because the data was recovered in June and
the FBI has a “high degree of confidence” that it
was never compromised—there remains no need to spend the
$160.5 million the administration had requested to buy credit-monitoring
services for affected vets. Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans
of Foreign Wars, told Federal Employees News Digest that the FBI’s
confidence does not reflect a 100 percent certainty, and that
the credit monitoring offer should stand. “It’s not
the government that’s at risk of identity theft and fraud,”
Davis said. “It’s incumbent upon the government to
make their citizens whole again.” For more on the story,
go to: www.vfw.org.
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U.S. Chamber Backs Bill to Raise Judges’
Pay
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce July 18 endorsed Senate legislation
aimed at attracting and retaining high-quality talent on the federal
bench. The business group threw its support behind the Federal
Judicial Fairness Act (S.2276), which would repeal a federal requirement
limiting pay raises for federal judges to those specifically authorized
by Congress. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif.,
would amend the federal judicial code to permit annual cost of
living adjustments—as well as boost the basic pay rate—for
federal judges. U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform President
Lisa A. Rickard said keeping top-quality judges on the bench “is
critical to the fair and efficient operation of our courts,”
and noted that today, "after factoring in bonuses, first-year
associates may receive more compensation than some federal judges…”
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