Obama signs bill changing how Medicare pays doctors

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Ending years of last-minute fixes, President Barack Obama on Thursday signed legislation permanently changing how Medicare pays doctors, a rare bipartisan achievement by Democrats and Republicans.

The bill overhauls a 1997 law that aimed to slow Medicare’s growth by limiting reimbursements to doctors. Instead, doctors threatened to leave the Medicare program, and that forced Congress repeatedly to block those reductions.

Obama signed the legislation Thursday in front of reporters and photographers, sitting alone and coatless in balmy spring weather on the patio of the White House Rose Garden. The Senate passed the bill two days ago; the House approved it in March.

Obama praised Republican House Speaker John Boehner and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi for negotiating the legislation.

He said the new law helps Medicare by giving assurance to doctors about their payments.