Medicare to Change if Spending Bill Passes: Here's How

What's New

If a new spending bill is passed, Medicare could change significantly moving into 2025.

The Continuing Appropriations and Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, otherwise known as the CR, would make a few fiscal changes to Medicare for next year.

Why It Matters

More than 67 million Americans rely on Medicare each year. The government healthcare program covers both seniors who reached age 65 and older as well as some people with disabilities.

The CR bill makes continuing and new appropriations for 2025 and could significantly impact what coverage Americans receive under the program.

What To Know

The bill calls for a 2.5 percent payment bump for doctors. There will also be an extension for telehealth capabilities for Medicare patients through 2026.

The legislation also extends several Medicare programs and provisions, including increased payments for low-volume hospitals, the Medicare-dependent hospital program, and add-on payments for ambulance services.

Despite the increase in payments, many do not feel this adjustment is enough to account for inflation over the last several years.

What People Are Saying

Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of michaelryanmoney.com, told Newsweek: "Doctors are walking a financial tightrope (...) It's more of a Band-Aid than a solution. Imagine a community doctor contemplating whether they can afford to continue serving Medicare patients. Each percentage point matters—it determines whether rural clinics survive or shutters."

Ryan said the extension of telehealth, on the other hand, is a "recognition of modern healthcare's evolution."

"For many, this means continued access to specialists who would otherwise be unreachable. Not just convenience, but survival."

Kevin Thompson, a finance expert and the founder and CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek:

"Americans on Medicare are likely to benefit, especially from the extended telehealth services, while programs supporting low-income individuals will continue to ease financial burdens. From a public-health perspective, these measures help ensure continuity and maintain access to critical services for vulnerable populations."

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek:

"The expansion of these screenings and therapies is a huge boost to recipients, as these have been highly desired for quite some time. The other extensions should help to alleviate concerns of cutbacks to some of these pivotally funded parts of Medicare."

What's Next

Ryan said the CR is a "chess move" setting up Medicare's future, especially how it concerns other insurers' reacting to the payment model Medicare establishes.

"By incentivizing alternative payment models at 3.53 percent, policymakers are quietly nudging healthcare toward a value-based approach," Ryan said.