The political grandstanding and point scoring on Capitol Hill will have significant repercussions for work comp, with some states directly - and quickly - affected and others feeling the impact later and more subtly.

I'm refering to the inability of the Senate to pass
legislation preventing the 21% cut in Medicare physician reimbursement that went into effect yesterday.

The Senate is trying to pass legislation to (temporarily) prevent the cut but Sen Bunning (R TN) is holding up passage. I'm a bit conflicted over Bunning's move: he's a bit of a wild card and rather erratic, but his stated rationale isn't unreasonable; he wants to know where the money's going to come from.

Regardless, several states base their WC fee schedules directly on Medicare: the cut will theoretically impact physician bills for services rendered beginning yesterday and cotinuing until the impasse is resolved.

I'm actually in DC now, if nothing's changed before I get back to the office I'll dig out my files and report on which states are directly affected.