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UPDATE: BUSH VETOES MEDICARE / TRICARE BILL, BUT
BOTH HOUSES QUICKLY OVERRIDE -- Veto override
means
no cut in fees for Medicare and Tricare doctors.
Although there is no mention of Tricare in the
story below, Tricare reimbursement fees are linked to Medicare fees...if
Medicare fees had been cut, Tricare users would have found their doctors
having to accept less, if they would accept anything at all.
For a background story on this legislation (with
backlinks), click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/08/nf08/nfJUL08/nf071208-1.htm
Story here...
http://www.nytimes.com/2
008/07/16/washington/16medicare.html?ref=health
Story below:
-------------------------
Congress, Overriding Bush, Blocks Pay Cut for
Doctors
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Tuesday vetoed a bill protecting doctors
from a Medicare pay cut, but both houses of Congress swiftly overrode the
veto with large bipartisan majorities, so the bill is now law.
The vote in the House was 383 to 41, with 153 Republicans defying the
president. In the Senate, the vote was 70 to 26, with 21 Republicans
voting to override.
 The
bill won more support on Tuesday than when it was first approved. The
tally in the House last month was 355 to 59, with 129 Republicans voting
for passage. The crucial vote in the Senate was 69 to 30, with 18
Republicans voting yes.
The measure is the fourth bill to be enacted over the president’s veto,
and two of those were farm bills.
Mr. Bush has been getting his way on many foreign and national security
issues, obtaining money for the Iraq war, persuading Congress to pass new
wiretapping legislation and fending off restrictions on harsh
interrogation techniques like waterboarding.
But Democrats have gained the upper hand on many domestic issues, passing
a water projects bill over the president’s veto and forcing the White
House to accept new education benefits for veterans who fought in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
After experiencing many setbacks on health legislation in recent years,
Democrats rejoiced in a resounding victory on Tuesday.
The vote “renews the light of hope for those who need our help the most,
senior citizens who depend on Medicare,” said Senator Harry Reid of
Nevada, the majority leader.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, said: “Seniors’
organizations and disabilities groups support this legislation. Just about
every health-care-providing group in our country supports this
legislation, except one, and that is some in the health insurance
industry. I guess the president is voting with them and not with America’s
seniors.”
The political dynamic was illustrated by Representative Marilyn Musgrave
of Colorado, a conservative Republican who boasted that she was voting
against the wishes of her party. “I am proud to continue my fight against
the White House on behalf of Colorado doctors and seniors,” Mrs. Musgrave
said. The votes on Tuesday ended a long string of victories for the health
insurance industry.
In his veto message, Mr. Bush said he objected to the bill because it
would cut federal payments to Medicare Advantage plans and slow the growth
of such plans, offered by insurance companies as an alternative to
traditional Medicare.
“I support the primary objective of this legislation, to forestall
reductions in physician payments,” Mr. Bush said. “Yet taking choices away
from seniors to pay physicians is wrong.”
Many independent studies have found that the private plans, sold by
insurers like Humana and UnitedHealth, cost the government more per person
than traditional Medicare. But Mr. Bush said that reducing payments to the
plans would force them to “reduce benefits to millions of seniors.”
The bill also sets strict standards for the marketing of private plans, to
curtail high-pressure sales tactics that have prompted complaints from
beneficiaries and state insurance regulators.
The main purpose of the bill is to cancel a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare
payments to doctors that took effect on July 1.
Little-noticed provisions of the bill would reduce the beneficiary’s
co-payment for mental health services and increase assistance to
low-income people on Medicare. In addition, the bill would delay a
competitive bidding program for suppliers of medical equipment like oxygen
tanks and power wheelchairs.
Competition “should be expanded, not diminished,” Mr. Bush said.
The American Medical Association and AARP, the advocacy group for older
Americans, lobbied for the bill, deluging members of Congress with
messages warning that doctors would be less likely to take Medicare
patients if their fees were cut.
Four Republican senators switched sides and voted for the bill on Tuesday.
The senators — Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, Richard G. Lugar of
Indiana, and Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi — had voted
against consideration of the bill on three previous occasions.
Representative Lois Capps, Democrat of California, said the veto showed
that Mr. Bush “would rather cozy up to his friends in the insurance
industry than improve access to health care for seniors and those with
disabilities.”
But Representative Jim McCrery, Republican of Louisiana, said the bill
“just kicks the can down the road” and does not fix fundamental flaws in
the formula for paying doctors. In 18 months, Mr. McCrery said, doctors
will face a 20 percent cut in their Medicare payments.
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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