TEXAS MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

- Concerns regarding Calendar Year 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposal; CMS 1832-P which includes temporary relief, but no lasting solutions, and unsustainable cuts on top of eroding Medicare payments. - Urge Congress to enact legislation to extend the enhanced advance premium tax credits (APTCs) established under section 36B(b)(3)(A)(iii) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.Extending the enhanced APTCs will continue to lower premiums across income levels, mitigate financial barriers to care, and sustain enrollment in the marketplaces. Allowing them to expire would reverse these gains, increase the uninsured rate, and raise uncompensated care costs for hospitals and physician practices nationwide. - Opposition to S. 2426, the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act (ECAPS) Act. Despite efforts to modify the text of this legislation in the 119th Congress, this bill still has numerous shortcomings, including inappropriately allowing pharmacists to perform services that would normally only be authorized and covered if they were furnished by a physician, testing and treating patients for certain illnesses and expanding Medicare payment for pharmacists in limited but significant ways.