President Obama Signs Law Delaying Medicare Payment Reductions - March 17, 2010

On March 2, President Obama signed into law the Temporary Extension Act of 2010, which delays a scheduled 21.2% reduction in Medicare provider payments through March 31, 2010, and provides 30-day extensions of a number of unemployment benefits, including COBRA. This action is intended as a stopgap measure while Congress works on longer-term fixes. Congress is currently debating the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act of 2010, which would delay the Medicare payment reduction until September 30, 2010, and could come up for a vote in the Senate as early as this week. This bill would also extend the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act increase in federal Medicaid matching funds from July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011.