Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has offered to preserve Medicare reimbursements if physicians start supporting health-care reform.
Medicare payments to physicians are scheduled to be cut over the next 10 years.
Dr. David Stevens, executive director of the Christian Medical Association (CMA), said Senate leadership has hit a new low.
"This is a threat to take away significant funding from doctors," he said. "It's just Chicago-style politics."
CMA members oppose the health-care plan mainly because it forces Americans to pay for abortions.
"Faith-based physicians, in particular, are extremely up in arms about right-of-conscience," Stevens said, "which is not protected in the reform legislation."
— Josh Montez
