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This image provided by Medicare.gov shows a generic Medicare card. The government says it’s on track to meet a 2019 deadline for replacing Social Security numbers on Medicare cards with randomly generated digits and letters to protect seniors against identity theft. (Medicare.gov via AP)

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FILE - In this April 12, 2016, file photo, Patrick Conway, director of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, poses for a photograph in the center's offices in Baltimore County, Md. Heart attacks and broken hips are the cause of much suffering as people grow older, and now Medicare is trying to change the way it pays for treatment to promote better quality and try to contain costs. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

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FILE - In this July 30, 2015 file photo, a sign supporting Medicare is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. A government report says Medicare beneficiaries can end up with higher hospital bills for some medical services as outpatients than as inpatients. In the topsy-turvy world of Medicare billing, you may pay more for outpatient care. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

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The Whale of Medicare Fraud Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

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President Johnson signs Medicare legislation July 30, 1965. Associated Press photo

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FILE - In this July 30, 1965 file photo, President Lyndon Johnson signs the Medicare Bill into law while former President Harry S. Truman, right, observes during a ceremony at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo. At rear are Lady Bird Johnson, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and former first lady Bess Truman. When Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law Americans 65 and older were the age group least likely to have health insurance. (AP Photo)

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The House has shown it can strike bipartisan deals, and indeed, two of the biggest bills this year have been driven by House Speaker John A. Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: They personally signed off on the Medicare fix deal and backed the bipartisan coalition that wrote the bill stopping the National Security Agency's phone-snooping program. (Associated Press)

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In this April 16, 2015, photo, President Barack signs the bill H.R. 2 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. On Iran, Medicare, education and trade, Republicans and Democrats have come together to make deals, and that’s something rarely seen lately. "It’s great," Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said after the Senate followed the House’s lead this past week in overwhelmingly passing a bill overhauling the Medicare payment system for doctors. "There’s just a huge pent-up demand to actually get something done, on both sides." (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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President Obama speaks to the media before signing the bill H.R. 2 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 16, 2015. (Associated Press)

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Members of Congress join House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, right, as he speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 16, 2015, before signing a bipartisan bill which blocks a cut in Medicare payments that was due to take effect this month, and it revamps how physicians will be paid in the future. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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The Medicare bill that patched a 1997 law that was about to foist a 21 percent pay cut on doctors was the product of negotiations between the unlikely duo of House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat. (Associated Press)

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House Speaker John A. Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi reached a rare bipartisan accord with last month's passage of H.R. 2, which reforms Medicare physician reimbursements. (Associated Press)

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Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Democrat said of the Medicare language, "is it as severe as the provision in the trafficking bill? No, so we'll see where we come out." The Medicare bill would repeal an outdated budget tool that Congress overrides each year, anyway, through a so-called "doc fix," even when the formula calls for a cut to doctors' pay. (Associated Press)

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This Oct. 15, 2014, file photo is a screen shot of the home page of HealthCare.gov, a federal government website managed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service. (AP Photo/File)

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Illustration on government interference with Medicare prescription drug coverage by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

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U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, Colorado Democrat, went on the attack against election rival Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, claiming that Mr. Gardner "voted for $800 billion in cuts to Medicare that went to tax cuts." (Associated Press)

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This image provided by the Department of Health and Humans Services shows the Open Payments page of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. From research grants to travel junkets, drug and medical device companies paid doctors and leading hospitals billions of dollars last year, the government disclosed Tuesday in a new effort to spotlight potential ethical conflicts in medicine. Industry spent nearly $3.5 billion on such payments in the five-month period from August through December of 2013, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which released data on 4.4 million payments. (AP Photo/HHS)

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While Democratic Sen. Mark L. Pryor voted for the Affordable Care Act, his campaign ads in Arkansas focus on attacking Republican opponent Tom Cotton's position on Medicare. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

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FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2013, file photo, the U.S. Capitol dome is silhouetted by the sunrise. Doctors who treat Medicare patients would get a last-minute reprieve from a scheduled 24 percent cut in their reimbursements from the government under a bill that’s on track to pass the House. It would be the 17th time Congress has stepped in with a temporary fix to a poorly designed Medicare fee formula that dates to a 1997 budget law. House action comes after efforts to permanently fix the formula appear to have fizzled. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

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** FILE ** In this May 31, 2013, file photo, acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn W. Colvin, center, accompanied by Acting Labor Secretary Seth D. Harris, left, and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, speaks during a news conference about Social Security and Medicare in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)