Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday said a Medicare package that would delay for 18 months a 10.6% cut to physician fees would cost between $15 billion and $18 billion over five years, prompting committee members to begin discussions on how to offset those costs, CQ Today reports (Wayne/Armstrong, CQ Today, 5/7).

Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said that committee members continue to examine reducing payments to private insurers that administer Medicare Advantage plans as a potential offset for the bill (Edney, CongressDaily, 5/7). MA plans, on average, are paid an estimated 113% of what traditional Medicare pays per patient (CQ Today, 5/7). Last year, when Congress passed a six-month delay for the Medicare fee cuts, Republicans -- "particularly from rural areas where the plans are popular" -- objected to cuts to the MA program, according to CongressDaily (CongressDaily, 5/7).

House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) on Wednesday said he expects Baucus to cut indirect medical education payments under MA that are given to insurers that provide coverage in areas with teaching hospitals…