Ehrlich on Washington column, January 11, 1998

( 1 407 York Road, Suite 304 Lutherville, Maryland 21093 MEWS FROM Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. Second Congressional District of Maryland 3 1 5 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 EHRLICH ON WASHINGTON Week of January 11, 1998 By Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. MEDICARE CONTINUES TO DOMINATE CONGRESSIONAL AGENDA Last year, Congress approved, and President Clinton signed into law, the most sweeping changes to Medicare in the three decade history of the program. As you may know, the new law, among other things, extends the life of the Medicare Part A Trust Fund for ten years; expands choice for beneficiaries among competing health plans; increases coverage for certain preventive benefits; and fights fraud and abuse in the Medicare system. After two years of contentious debate on Medicare reform, some might expect that Medicare-related issues would occupy a less prominent role on the national agenda now that these important reforms have at last become law. As it turns out, however, last year’s bipartisan success has touched off two new debates on the future of the Medicare program. The first debate concerns a new law which dramatically limits the freedom of seniors who voluntarily choose to pay physicians out-of-pocket for certain medical services. According to an obscure provision in last year’s Balanced Budget Act, physicians who take money from a single Medicare patient for a service covered under the program must “opt out” of the entire Medicare system for two years. Because very few doctors (an estimated four percent) can forego accepting Medicare patients, this new law effectively bans seniors who want to use their own money to pay for their own treatment from doing so. C There are a number of valid reasons, such as privacy concerns, why a Medicare patient,