78R3578 CME-D

By:  Cook of Colorado                                           H.C.R. No. 44 



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, In 2001, nearly 2.3 million Texans were enrolled in 
Medicare, the federal health insurance program for individuals age 
65 and older, and that number is expected to reach approximately 2.7 
million by the end of this decade; with so many Texans reliant on 
Medicare for health insurance coverage, the program accounts for 
more than 20 percent of all personal health care spending in the 
state; and
	WHEREAS, Despite its vital importance to so many seniors, 
regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 
Services (CMS) in December 2002 would further reduce the amount 
doctors are paid for treating Medicare patients; this reduction 
compounds the effect of a similar reduction in the physician fee 
schedule made during the preceding year; and
	WHEREAS, These cuts have had, and will continue to have, 
adverse effects on health care in Texas and nationwide; an American 
Medical Association survey conducted in 2002 found that one in four 
physicians has either restricted or plans to restrict the number or 
type of Medicare patients treated and one in three has stopped or 
intends to stop delivering certain services to Medicare 
beneficiaries; in fact, industry surveys indicate 21.7 percent of 
physicians no longer accept Medicare patients; and
	WHEREAS, Access to health care is already a problem for 
Medicare patients;  the Center for Studying Health System Change 
indicates that 11 percent of Medicare beneficiaries delayed or did 
not receive needed care because of problems getting doctor 
appointments; and
	WHEREAS, Recognizing the Medicare crisis, the U.S. House of 
Representatives approved a bill last year that would have increased 
doctor payments for Medicare treatment by 1.9 percent in 2003, but 
the measure did not pass the Senate before the congressional 
session ended; instead, after weathering the payment rate cut of 
5.4 percent in 2002, which cost Texas doctors a total of $139.4 
million, further reductions are in store; and
	WHEREAS, Under the new CMS regulations, which are based on a 
calculation methodology specified by federal law, additional cuts 
scheduled for the next three years will reduce Medicare physician 
payments by an additional 12 percent resulting in $695 million in 
losses for Texas doctors, or $17,841 per physician--the fourth 
largest loss in the country; and
	WHEREAS, Texas physicians, also facing steep increases in 
medical liability premiums and low Medicaid reimbursement rates, 
are being driven into early retirement or from practicing in 
certain communities altogether; the increased loss of access to 
medical care is of particular concern to rural communities where 
managed care, which represents the primary source for Medicare 
treatment, has all but disappeared; and
	WHEREAS, Legislation currently before Congress would freeze 
physician payment rates at their 2002 level for one year;  House 
Joint Resolution 3, introduced by U.S. Representative Bill Thomas, 
would halt implementation of the physician payment regulation and 
prevent the cut in Medicare payments to doctors; now, therefore, be 
it
	RESOLVED, That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to 
recognize the impact of proposed Medicare fee reductions by passing 
House Joint Resolution 3 and to update the physician Medicare 
payment formula to avoid fee reductions currently scheduled through 
2005; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the 
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the 
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.