Opinion: HHS subverts a congressional plan to make Medicare lab payments fairer
HHS has triggered dramatic payment cuts to laboratories that could reduce seniors' access to essential lab services.
Not all laws live up to their names. As a case in point, consider the that Congress passed in 2014. Among other things, it sought to fix an outdated Medicare payment system for laboratory tests by establishing a new model that was based on competitive rates paid to labs in the private market. That’s a worthwhile goal, but one the Department of Health and Human Services has done everything possible to undermine. Its actions could make it more difficult to access
