Dr. Randy Easterling of Vicksburg met with President Bush briefly in Jackson Tuesday afternoon to discuss a pending cut in the Medicare fees paid to doctors.

“I thought it was very important the president hear from us how serious we believe this problem is,” said Easterling, a family medicine and addiction specialist with River Region Medical Center and recently elected Mississippi State Medical Association president. He and other representatives of the association met with the president.

“We got about 5 minutes with him,” Easterling said. “It was worth it. The president told me he was dedicated to finding a fix.”

Some 600,000 doctors who care for Medicare patients face a 10.6 percent fee cut. The reduction was scheduled to take effect Tuesday. However, the Bush administration said Monday it will delay the measure 10 days to give Congress more time to find a way to block the fee cut.

“I’m confident there will be a fix next week,” said Easterling, who also discussed Medicare policy with Bush aides and advisers for about 30 minutes. “If not, the cut would make it almost impossible for doctors to receive Medicare patients.”

Bush was in Jackson Tuesday for a closed fundraiser for Sen. Roger Wicker, the former congressman who was appointed to Trent Lott’s vacated Senate seat. Wicker is competing in a Nov. 4 election against Democrat Ronnie Musgrove to fill the remaining four years of Lott’s term.