Senate Republicans blocked a measure last week that would have prevented a Medicare pay cut for doctors, saying the bill would have been vetoed by the White House and that a new approach should be crafted for Senate consideration.

Lawmakers appear to agree that the 10.6 percent payment cut for Medicare doctors — slated to take affect July 1 — should not go through. But they disagree on how to make that happen.

On a procedural vote of 54-39, senators rejected a $20 billion Medicare refinancing plan, primarily supported by Democrats, that would have not only blocked the pay cut, but would have increased physician payments by 1.1 percent.  The refinancing plan would have been paid for through reductions in Medicare’s reimbursements to private health plans.

Republicans support a competing measure that also would block the pay cut, but would provide for lower reductions in private health plan reimbursements.

“We all know what this vote was about, and it wasn’t about what’s best for American seniors,” said Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who introduced the rejected measure. “The White House doesn’t want overpaid private health plans in Medicare to lose a single dime.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), urged senators to defeat the Baucus bill. He called it an “incomplete” measure that “delays bipartisan consideration of a Medicare bill.”

But as the arguments rage on Capitol Hill, the clock is ticking. And it’s Medicare doctors — providing healthcare services to you and your loved ones — who will be left holding the check.

-Lori Woehrle