Keep Medicare Fair

AARP’s campaign urging Congress to “Keep Medicare Fair” generated more than 600,000 e-mails, phone calls and petitions as of mid-June. The effort aims to slow the growth in monthly Part B premiums, which rose from $45.50 in 2000 to $96.40 in 2008.

Congress has grappled with how to prevent a scheduled 10 percent pay cut for doctors without hiking Medicare’s overall costs, to which Part B premiums are pegged. AARP and many lawmakers say that reducing other program spending, including some payments to Medicare private plans, would pay for the fix, a proposal the White House threatens to veto.

Senate leaders hope to resolve the issue this month. “The goal is to prevent yet another cut in physician payments,” says AARP’s Kirsten Sloan, “without the cost coming from beneficiaries’ pocketbooks.”