Military Update: Lawmakers waste billions fumbling ‘Doc-Rate Fix’

Congress has known for a decade that the formula it set in 1997 for adjusting physician payments under Medicare — and by extension the fees paid to civilian doctors under TRICARE , the military’s health insurance program — is seriously flawed and can’t be allowed to take effect. But rather than replace the formula, which the American Medical Association says would have cost $48 billion in 2005