Bush Proposes Cuts in Medicare Payments

The Bush administration announced plans Tuesday to reduce Medicare payments to cancer doctors, saying taxpayers have been paying the physicians up to twice what they should for certain medications.

The proposed changes would save the government $530 million and Medicare beneficiaries $270 million next year, said Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare spent $10.5 billion last year on prescription medicines administered in physicians’ offices and clinics.

Cancer doctors and patient advocates said the proposals could force a dramatic change in care, with patients forced to get their treatment in hospitals, sometimes far from their homes, rather than in physicians’ offices.

“A patient of mine in rural Illinois may have to drive another 50 miles,” said Dr. Edward Braud, an oncologist who was interviewed by telephone Tuesday at his clinic in Jacksonville, Ill.

Ellen Stovall, a two-time cancer survivor who is president and chief executive of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, said, “Our concern is that whatever cost savings may be realized will come at the expense of quality care for patients.”

Cancer specialists’ revenue could decline up to 8%, McClellan said. Payments for some treatments for prostate cancer would be cut in half under the proposals.

Drugs dispensed in doctors’ offices to treat respiratory problems also would be affected by the proposed changes, he said.

Medicare won’t pay for most prescription medicines until 2006, but it covers the cost of intravenous chemotherapy and other treatments that must be dispensed by medical professionals.

Among the cancer drugs affected by the proposal are Amgen Inc.’s Aranesp and Neupogen drugs used to treat chemotherapy patients. Other cancer medicines on the list include Pfizer Inc.’s Camptosar, and Rituxan, made by Biogen Idec Inc. and Genentech Inc.