The move spares lawmakers from having to use the recess to explain to seniors why they didn't do the job before leaving town.
Kevin Schweers, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will hold doctors' Medicare claims delivered on or after July 1 until at least July 15. Claims for services received on before June 30 will be processed as usual, he said.
Congress, not willing to face millions of angry seniors at the polls in November, will almost certainly act quickly when it returns to Washington the week of July 7 to prevent the cuts in payments for some 600,000 doctors who treat Medicare patients. The cuts were scheduled because of a formula that requires fee cuts when spending exceeds established goals.
Almost every year, Congress finds a way to block the cuts. But last week the Senate fell just one vote short of the 60 needed to proceed to legislation that would have stopped the cut.
In a particularly vitriolic exchange, Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for what Nancy H. Nielsen, president of the American Medical Association, said has put the country "at the brink of a Medicare meltdown."
"Seniors need continued access to the doctors they trust. It's urgent that Congress make that happen," the AMA said in ads taken out in Capitol Hill newspapers read by members of Congress and their aides.
Doctors have complained for years that Medicare payments have failed to cover rising costs.