San Diego doctors win long campaign for higher Medicare pay

After a tempestuous 14-year fight and a $5 billion lawsuit that got as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, a congressionally approved fix will gradually increase doctors pay in San Diego County and 14 other California counties that were inappropriately classified. Starting Jan. 1, the new rule, embedded in the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, will pay them higher rates, more like doctors practicing in Orange County and other higher cost urban areas of the state.