{"id":7452,"date":"2026-07-14T20:36:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:36:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:36:42","slug":"trump-officials-seek-public-input-to-overhaul-medicare-payment-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452","title":{"rendered":"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., seen with President Donald Trump, has long expressed interest in changing Medicare’s physician payment system. (Sarah L. Voisin\/The Washington Post)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Trump administration on Tuesday asked for public suggestions on overhauling Medicare\u2019s decades-old system for paying physicians, advancing officials\u2019 long-running efforts<\/a> to shift financial incentives toward primary care and prevention instead of costly procedures.<\/p>

Read more Pro-Palestinian protester sues Trump administration, citing KKK Act<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump officials are also seeking potential alternatives to the billing-code system \u2014 the Current Procedural Terminology, or CPT \u2014 which is owned and operated by the American Medical Association, the nation\u2019s largest physician lobbying organization. The system has long determined how much reimbursement physicians and other health care practitioners receive for certain services.<\/p>\n

The coding system tends to reward health care providers for surgeries and other costly procedures. It has been accused of steering physicians into lucrative<\/a> specialties, reinforcing a health care system that pays more to treat diseases than prevent them.<\/p>\n

Efforts at change have met fierce resistance from lobbyists, with billions of dollars at stake from even small tweaks to the existing formula. There are also major technical challenges when designing new payment models for the U.S. health system, officials have said.<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his aides have spent about two years privately discussing plans for shifting away from the current system, a move cheered by some public health advocates and some Democrats, who agree that the existing model is flawed. Kennedy, who built his public profile by harnessing frustrations with entrenched medical interests, and other Trump officials have also sought to tout Republican efforts to combat health care frustrations ahead of this fall\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

In interviews, administration officials said they wanted Tuesday\u2019s announcement to be viewed as a \u201cstrong signal\u201d for outside experts to work with them on overhauling the system or devising a new one. Financial incentives are different in other countries, where more physicians go into primary care<\/a> \u2014 and health outcomes are better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhite House aides are interested in what alternatives we have to this monopoly,\u201d said one White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview internal plans. \u201cWe have concerns about the AMA\u2019s outsized influence over setting payment rates, which could be a conflict of interest.\u201d <\/b><\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s request for information was issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the Medicare program.<\/p>

Read more Trump\u2019s plan to make daylight saving time permanent to get a vote in House<\/a><\/p>\n

The AMA did not immediately respond to questions about the administration\u2019s interest in overhauling Medicare payments. The lobbying group has defended its role in the current payment system, saying<\/a> that its codes are developed using \u201ca rigorous and transparent process\u201d and are \u201cupdated regularly to reflect current clinical practice and innovation in medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AMA, which represents more than 250,000 physicians, oversees a panel of several dozen physicians<\/a> \u2014 known as the AMA\/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee, more commonly referred to as the RUC \u2014 <\/b>who study the resources needed for each medical service and issue recommendations to the federal government. While those recommendations are not binding, federal officials overwhelmingly accept them and use them to set reimbursement for doctors\u2019 duties.<\/p>\n

The panel\u2019s recommendations have historically been skewed by misleading estimates of how physicians spend their time, according to a 2013 Washington Post investigation<\/a>. For instance, The Post found that the group repeatedly inflated the amount of time a doctor needed to perform a procedure.<\/p>\n

The AMA also collects millions of dollars in revenue from its work to develop and recommend billing codes, with the group conducting trainings, selling books and charging royalties.<\/p>\n

Kennedy\u2019s defenders have said that his interest in changing physician payments reflects his willingness to take on the medical establishment. Unlike other aspects of his agenda \u2014 such as Kennedy\u2019s efforts to reduce the number of vaccines administered to children \u2014 he has found common cause with some of his critics in Congress and across public health on this front.<\/p>\n

\u201cA secretive committee run by the American Medical Association has played an outsized role in recommending the relative values of physician services, and it has overwhelmingly recommended that specialty services are worth a whole lot more than primary care,\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said in an April 2024 hearing on Medicare payment changes.<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), chairman of the Senate\u2019s health committee, has also pressed<\/a> the AMA on how the lobbying group devises codes that are used to bill for medical procedures and services, fees associated with that work and the <\/b>organization\u2019s broader agenda.<\/p>

Read more Darline Graham Nordone, Lindsey Graham\u2019s sister, sworn in to succeed him<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They aim to shift incentives that some say gives too much power to the American Medical Association, a lobbying group that plays a role in setting payment rates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They aim to shift incentives that some say gives too much power to the American Medical Association, a lobbying group that plays a role in setting payment rates.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T20:36:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/049021fff0c124360eaa098154400783-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T20:36:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452\"},\"wordCount\":796,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452\",\"name\":\"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T20:36:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"WASHINGTON,DC - President Donald Trump held a press conference announcing AstraZeneca's commitment to charge less for prescription drugs to Americans in the Oval Office of The White House on Friday October 10, 2025. United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, is pictured with the president. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin\\\/The Washington Post)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7452#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"They aim to shift incentives that some say gives too much power to the American Medical Association, a lobbying group that plays a role in setting payment rates.","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-07-14T20:36:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/049021fff0c124360eaa098154400783-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system","datePublished":"2026-07-14T20:36:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452"},"wordCount":796,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452","name":"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-14T20:36:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eedfcad1d8d5e48acb8228d9c6669988-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707,"caption":"WASHINGTON,DC - President Donald Trump held a press conference announcing AstraZeneca's commitment to charge less for prescription drugs to Americans in the Oval Office of The White House on Friday October 10, 2025. United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., left, is pictured with the president. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin\/The Washington Post)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7452#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump officials seek public input to overhaul Medicare payment system"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}