Doctors’ group targets Alexander, Corker on physicians’ pay

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (above) along with Sen. Bob Corker is taking heat from the American Medical Association for a vote the group says favors the insurance industry. File

Doctors are trying to perform last-minute political surgery on Tennessee’s U.S. senators for their votes last week that a leading physicians’ group says favored the “huge profits” of the insurance industry over health care for seniors.

Last week, Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) voted to allow a 10.6 percent cut in payments to doctors for caring for millions of American seniors and others on Medicare.

The American Medical Association (AMA) is airing television and radio advertisements in Tennessee through Monday urging listeners to contact the senators and tell them to “make patients’ health care access not insurance profits the top priority.”

“A group of U.S. senators voted to protect the powerful insurance companies’ huge profits at the expense of Medicare patients’ access to doctors and their services,” the AMA’s radio advertisement states. “Right now, many doctors are forced to limit their services and have stopped accepting new patients. America stands at the brink of a Medicare meltdown unless urgent action is taken.”

The issue will likely be back up for consideration this week in the Senate. The House has already passed the bill delaying the cutbacks in doctor pay.

Asked for explanations for their votes, Alexander and Corker each said the bill delaying the physicians’ payments would have negatively affected Tennessee hospitals, particularly Memphis’ Regional Medical Center.

Currently, the hospital cares for some Arkansas and Mississippi residents but doesn’t receive reimbursements through Medicaid for that care. An effort was underway to change that, but language regarding the Regional Medical Center was not included in the bill.

In an interview, Corker said the AMA and the Tennessee Medical Association were both “very aware” that the bill’s negative financial affect on the Memphis hospital was the reason he didn’t support it and that he is committed to ensuring physicians’ Medicare pay isn’t cut.

“It’s very disappointing,” Corker said. “I’m disappointed in the AMA. I’m somewhat disappointed in the TMA to be honest and their relationship there, but at the end of the day I’m committed to ensuring that physicians do not receive cuts — absolutely.”

Corker said his vote had “nothing whatsoever” to do with Medicare Advantage, a private Medicare alternative whose federal payments to offering insurance companies would have been cut under the legislation.

Corker said he voted against the bill after being assured by the Bush Administration that any cuts in physician pay could be delayed until mid-July to allow Congress time to hammer out a deal.

In a statement, Alexander said doctors will be “retroactively made whole” if they do receive cuts in pay once Congress acts.

The AMA targeted the ads at some Republican senators up for re-election this year, which includes Alexander.