Congress To Resume Crafting Medicare Legislation That Would Further Delay Physician Fee Cut
President Bush last month signed into law a bill that delays the fee cut for six months and extends SCHIP through March 2009. The bill increased Medicare physician fees by 0.5% during that period and extended several programs that provide higher Medicare reimbursement rates to rural health care providers and hospital laboratories. In addition, the bill extended for six months rural and low-income subsidies, as well as payments for rehabilitative therapy under Medicare (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 12/20/07).
According to CQ Today, the Senate is expected to lead work on the package, and the Senate Finance Committee is expected to begin working on the measure in the opening weeks of the new session. A Democratic Finance Committee aide said the package would cost between $12 billion and $15 billion over five years. The aide said that the Finance Committee intends to abide by pay/go rules, which raises the "question of where lawmakers will find the billions of dollars for the package," CQ Today reports.
Democrats have sought to make cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, but a Republican Finance Committee aide in an e-mail wrote that Bush would veto any legislation containing "wholesale cuts" to MA plans. However, the aide said targeted cuts might be approved, adding that cuts to bonus payments for teaching hospitals and cuts to private fee-for-service plans could be possible. Democrats also want to create restrictions on how MA plans are marketed, which might generate some savings (CQ Today, 1/16). Bush Might Address Medicare Physician Fee Cut, Leavitt Says
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Wednesday said that the budget Bush will release next month might include a proposal to fix the Medicare physician fee cut, CongressDaily reports. Leavitt said that lawmakers cannot continue to patch the fee cut on "a six-month by six-month basis. Next year, we'll be staring down the barrel of a 15% reduction, and the year after that it's 20, and we have to solve this."
Bush for the first time is required by law to send a Medicare savings proposal to Congress after he proposes his budget because Medicare trustees last year triggered a "Medicare funding warning." The warning is issued when trustees for two consecutive years predict that federal general fund revenue must be used to pay for 45% or more of total Medicare costs within seven years. Aides and lobbyists "say the White House's savings proposal could significantly alter Capitol Hill discussions surrounding Medicare and other health-related issues," CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 1/17).
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Congresul Pentru a relua realizarea Medicare legislaþie care sã o întârziere mai mare medic taxa de tãiat - Congress To Resume Crafting Medicare Legislation That Would Further Delay Physician Fee Cut - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate