Physician pay has decreased in recent years—particularly for those who treat Medicare beneficiaries. Ongoing reimbursement cuts could leave patients with fewer choices in where they can seek care and would likely cause patients to pay higher prices.

There's one issue threatening rural health care access that our elected leaders could begin meaningfully addressing: Medicare’s broken physician payment model. And it's critical that they do.

At a time when patients need more care than ever, the health care system is failing to keep up with the overwhelming demand for even the most routine services. One of the most important drivers of this trend is inadequate Medicare payments to physicians.

Medicare is failing patients and physicians. After adjusting for inflation, physician reimbursement under Medicare has declined by 33% from 2001 to 2025. How can private practice physicians stay in business to continue providing care for patients?

Eighty health care organizations and all 50 state medical societies wrote letters to congressional leaders urging them to reverse the latest round of Medicare payment cuts and provide physicians with a meaningful payment increase that reflects ongoing inflationary pressures.

There may be a new Congress and new administration in Washington, D.C., but the AMA’s national legislative priority remains the same: Fix Medicare Now.

AMA strongly supports the reintroduced "Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act” that would stop the 2.83% cut in Medicare payments to physician practices while providing a 2% payment update, aiming to stabilize physician practices and protect patients’ access to care.

Congressman Greg Murphy, M.D., reintroduced a new bipartisan bill to support physicians and protect Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care.

As the new administration discusses ways to make health care more cost-efficient and streamlined, they should prioritize preventative care to keep older Americans healthier and reduce downstream costs.