House votes to override veto on Medicare bill
WASHINGTON (AP) - July 15, 2008 The White House supports rescinding the pay cut, but objects to
the way the legislation would finance the plan, largely by reducing
spending on private health plans. Both chambers of Congress are
expected to move quickly to try to override the veto, beginning
with the House.
"I support the primary objective of this legislation, to
forestall reductions in physician payments," Bush said in a
statement. "Yet taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians
is wrong."
Lawmakers are under pressure from doctors and the elderly
patients they serve to void the rate cut, which kicked in on July
1. The cut is based on a formula that establishes lower
reimbursement rates when Medicare spending levels exceed
established targets.
Instead of a cut, the legislation would freeze rates for 2008
and would increase them by 1.1 percent in 2009. The legislation
generates the revenue necessary to pay doctors more by reducing
spending on private health insurance plans. Those plans serve more
than 9 million people through the Medicare Advantage program.
Insurers and the Bush administration argued that the changes
lawmakers sought will lead to benefit cuts and to fewer Medicare
Advantage plans. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that
over the course of five years, enrollment in Medicare Advantage
will grow to 12 million rather than to 14.3 million.
However, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans believe that
the government's payments to the plans are too generous and that
those payments drive up costs for the taxpayer as well as all 44
million participants in the program.
While the focus on the bill has largely been on changes for
doctors and private insurers, virtually every type of health care
provider as well as millions of patients have a stake in the
legislation.
For consumers, lawmakers lowered the copayments for mental
health treatment and allowed more people to qualify for the
government's help in paying their monthly premiums.
For providers, such as pharmacist, the legislation ensured that
they're paid promptly by Medicare drug plans and delayed changes
that would have cut their reimbursements when dispensing generic
drugs for Medicaid patients.
--
Associated Press Writer Ben Feller contributed to this report.