Lawmakers urged to weigh cost of extending special Medicare payments

{mosads}They also tend to undermine the integrity of the Medicare payment system because they encourage providers to seek exceptions instead of being as efficient as they’d have to be if they could only get the basic Medicare payment.

“Further,” Steinwald testified, “if one provider or group of providers obtains an exception, other providers quite naturally say, ‘Where’s my exception?’ At the same time, those who obtain exceptions become dependent on them, leading to the ongoing demand to extend them indefinitely.”

Finally, he said, exceptions weaken the few checks and balances Medicare has in place to curtail spending.

Lobbyists and lawmakers said all the exceptions were necessary, saying they point to a broken Medicare payment system that needs to be entirely revamped.

“Obviously,” said Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), “this has gotten way out of hand.”