Here’s the problem: Medicare’s physician payment formula has not been working. Since 1992, Medicare has reimbursed physicians on a fee-for-service basis. In 1997, Congress implemented the sustainable growth rate (SGR) to control Medicare spending and make sure that growth in physician reimbursement does not exceed growth in the gross domestic product (GDP). This is problematic because the cost of medical care in the United States has increased faster than its GDP. In fact, health care …

If you’ve happened across any political news outlets in the past month or two you may have seen some headlines about something called “SGR.” Perhaps more likely, you may remember in years past hearing political pundits or reporters talking about a “doc fix.” In fact, both of these are the same thing, and if you’ve heard those terms thrown about more than once it might be because the issue has come up at least once a year …

Editor’s note: This article was originally published here by contributing writer Emily Lu on her blog, Medicine for Change. Like every other health policy nerd out there, I’ve been following the debate over the Oregon Medicaid experiment results about as closely as most Chicagoans followed the Bulls game. For those not up to speed, here’s a quick replay: Due to financial constraints, Oregon was only able to expand Medicaid enrollment by 10,000 in 2008, though many more people were …