A group of seven U.S. senators has urged President Barack Obama to reject calls for deeper Medicare cuts for medical imaging services.
In a letter sent to the president on July 20, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-WI), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and four other colleagues expressed concern over cuts that "are stifling ... medical innovation and leaving seniors and disabled Americans without access to the care they need to diagnose and treat life-threatening diseases such as heart disease and cancer."
Medicare reimbursements for medical imaging have been cut seven separate times since 2006, the senators wrote, and not only will the proposed cuts make access to care difficult, they will also jeopardize middle-class American jobs.
"We urge you to reject these calls for making deeper cuts to Medicare payments for medical imaging services," the senators wrote. "Instead, we ask you to work with us to enact alternative reforms that ensure each patient receives appropriate access to imaging when necessary."
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
