Politics

Bipartisan Senate duo wants Medicare to make payments to doctors public

interns Contributor
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Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are collaborating on legislation to require the federal government to make public how much it pays doctors who participate in Medicare, a Senate staffer said.

Payments to doctors and other individual providers in the Medicare claims database has been off-limits to the public since the 1970s, when the Florida Medical Association and the American Medical Association sued to keep it secret. The issue has resurfaced in recent months after The Wall Street Journal and the Center for Public Integrity sued the Department of Health and Human Services to get the information.

Those pushing for access to the database believe it could reveal major fraud that costs taxpayers greatly.

Full Story: Bipartisan Senate duo wants Medicare to make payments to doctors public – The Hill’s Healthwatch