Medicare Veto Override Hailed: Official System Needs Overhaul

Dan Boyd

Jul. 17, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- SANTA FE -- State health care leaders on Wednesday applauded a congressional power play that keeps doctors from being hit by a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates.

However, they warned that Congress' override of a presidential veto doesn't mean the problems swirling around New Mexico health care are any closer to being solved.

"All it does is keep in place the current system," state Health Department Secretary Alfredo Vigil said. "It would be better to be celebrating real changes and advancements to the health care system."

Vigil and other health care leaders had previously predicted a slashing of Medicare payments to physicians would have a devastating impact in New Mexico -- where about 290,000 senior citizens currently receive governmentsponsored health care -- and could have led to doctors turning away Medicare patients.

With the planned cut looming, the Senate last week passed a bill previously approved by the House to block the cut and, instead, give doctors a 1 percent increase in the Medicare reimbursement rate starting next year.

After President Bush vetoed the bill Tuesday, Congress moved quickly and decisively to override the veto. Later that same night, the House voted 383-41 in favor of the override, while the Senate voted 70-26 to do likewise.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who had expressed support for much of the bill's contents, voted against the override. A Domenici spokesman, Chris Gallegos, said Wednesday that the senator could not overlook the negative impact the bill would have on seniors enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program, a private plan that many Medicare recipients are eligible for.

But Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., who co-sponsored the bill, touted its passage as "great news for New Mexico's Medicare beneficiaries," a sentiment echoed by others.

"We're very happy the cut didn't go through," Jerry McLaughlin, the presidentelect of the New Mexico Medical Society, said. "It does eliminate the immediate problem we had."

But McLaughlin, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Hobbs, said more must be done to prevent the stare down on Capitol Hill from repeating itself.

"The ultimate fix is for the (Medicare) formula to be fixed," he said. "We've been dealing with this every year."

The cut in the reimbursement rate had been scheduled to go into effect July 1, but the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, at the Bush administration's urging, delayed the onset to give legislators more time to come up with a solution.

Vigil said the visibility of the Medicare issue could have an impact on the state's consideration of how to best expand health care coverage for New Mexicans. The state currently has the nation's second-highest rate of uninsured citizens. How they voted

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Reps. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., and Tom Udall, D-N.M., voted in favor of the override. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., voted against it, while Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., did not vote.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0010-26737710