With just hours to spare, Congress has stepped in to prevent doctors who treat Medicare patients from being hit with a 24% cut in their payments from the government.
Â
The Senate's 64-35 vote sends a measure to delay the cuts for a year to President Barack Obama, who's expected to quickly sign it.
Â
The $21 billion measure would stave off a 24% cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors for a year and extend dozens of other expiring health care provisions such as higher payment rates for rural hospitals.
The legislation is paid for by cuts to health care providers, but fully half of the cuts won't kick in for 10 years.
Â
It's the seventeenth temporary "patch" to a broken payment formula that dates to 1997. (AP)Â
