Medicare: Bill signed sparing docs from Medicare payments cut (for now)
| Washington
President Barack Obama has signed a bill that temporarily spares doctors from a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments.
The measure delays cuts through the end of November while lawmakers work on a more permanent solution.
There was some urgency to approve the $6.5 billion bill. Medicare officials announced last week that the program would begin processing claims it had already received for June at the lower rate.
The money had been part of a larger bill to extend unemployment benefits for laid-off workers and provide states with billions of dollars to avert layoffs. That bill has been blocked by Senate Republicans because of the cost.
