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Senior Citizen Politics
Efforts Failing to Stop Medicare from Cutting
Physicians Pay, Other Reforms
House unable to agree on adding Medicare package to
alternative minimum tax bill
Dec. 12, 2007 - Legislation that would prevent
middle-class U.S. residents from paying the alternative minimum tax
heads to the House floor on Wednesday, but it does not contain Medicare
provisions that would delay a scheduled 10% physician fee cut,
CongressDaily reports.
The House's decision to move forward with the AMT
measure "derails one of the best vehicles for a Medicare package this
year and increases the likelihood" that the Medicare physician fee cut
will take effect Jan. 1, 2008, according to CongressDaily
(Vaughan/Johnson, CongressDaily, 12/12).
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Tuesday said
that "Medicare probably has to go with AMT" because the measure is "very
bipartisan" (Reichard,
CQ HealthBeat, 12/11).
However, Baucus and
House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) were
unable to reach an agreement on a Medicare package during negotiations
on Tuesday (CongressDaily, 12/12).
According to Baucus, funding the Medicare physician
fee fix would be "very difficult" without cuts to Medicare Advantage
plans. However, the Bush administration has threatened to veto any
legislation that reduces payments to MA plans.
Baucus said a Medicare
package that does not include cuts to MA plans would "put pressure on
some other potential provider cuts in order to pay for doctors and also
to pay for some other things that a lot of people want" (CQ HealthBeat,
12/11).
Baucus is seeking suggestions from White House Chief of Staff
Joshua Bolton on how serious President Bush is about vetoing a Medicare
package that contains MA plan cuts.
"The White House made it clear, at
least they say -- I don't know how accurate this is, I don't know what
the president really thinks ...," Baucus said (CongressDaily, 12/11).
According to CQ Today, the Senate still could
attach the Medicare package to the AMT measure after the House takes
action on the legislation (Armstrong, CQ Today, 12/11).
Lawmakers and
aides said that the Medicare package still could move this year as part
of an omnibus spending bill or as stand-alone legislation
(CongressDaily, 12/12).
Meanwhile, Baucus said a Medicare package might
be "pushed off until next year, frankly." If that were to happen,
Congress could approve legislation that would stop the fee cut
retroactively (CQ Today, 12/11).
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Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
Dec.
7, 2007