CBO: Medicare ‘Doc Fix’ Would Cost $175B Over 10 Years

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that bipartisan legislation (HR 2810) that would gradually repeal the sustainable growth rate formula -- which determines Medicare physician reimbursement rates -- would cost $175.5 billion over 10 years. According to CBO, provisions that would repeal the SGR and automatically increase physician payments by 0.5% annually over five years would cost $63.5 billion. CBO previously estimated that repealing the SGR would cost $138 billion over a decade.

• "Price Tag for SGR Repeal: $175 Billion" (Pittman, MedPage Today, 9/13).