You might be wondering what will happen to your Medicare physician payments after Aug. 2 if Congress and the White House can't agree to boost the federal debt ceiling. On Aug. 2, the government is projected to exceed its debt limit of $14.3 trillion. There's been no official word from CMS, but President Obama did warn on July 12 that failure to raise the debt ceiling could result in Social Security checks, veterans' benefits and other federal obligations not being paid out as scheduled.
In fact, the government would have to cut spending by 44% immediately, according to a report by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a non-profit think tank in Washington. The Treasury Department "would have to choose from among $80 million monthly payments so that 40% to 45% of bills are not paid,” conclude the report's authors. Further, “handling all payments for important and popular programs (e.g., Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, active duty pay) will quickly become impossible.” A grim projection that gets grimmer: the reality would be "unfair results, unanswered questions, the Treasury picking winners and losers, public uproar and intense global media focus," the report says.