Senate Prepares Medicare Premium Protection Vote

The Senate is expected to vote this week on a House-passed measure that postpones cuts in payments to physicians who treat Medicare patients.

The House voted Monday, June 23, to delay, for 18 months, a 10.6 percent cut in the Medicare payments to doctors and physicians, a measure that is to be financed by cuts in private Medicare Advantage (MA) insurance plans. Approval came with a surprisingly lopsided 355-59 vote as 129 Republicans defied their party leaders to vote for the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would schedule a vote on the measure this week, ahead of a July 1 deadline when physician payment cuts are scheduled to take effect.

AARP CEO Bill Novelli praised the House vote and urged senators to approve the package. In a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., Novelli also expressed his disappointment that the House bill did not include provisions aimed at controlling the growth of Medicare premiums. “AARP was disappointed that more was not done to hold down premium increases in this package,” he wrote.

Baucus, who had been working on compromise legislation with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Wednesday he would support the House bill.

The White House has threatened to veto the bill because it would cut payments to insurers for Medicare Advantage, private plans that about 10 million of Medicare’s 44 million beneficiaries use instead of the traditional, government-run program. “The administration has repeatedly communicated that legislative proposals that result in loss of beneficiary access to additional benefits or choices in the MA program are unacceptable,” the Office of Management and Budget said in a state of administration policy.

Democratic lawmakers say the government's payments to the insurers are overly generous, but the administration and supporters in Congress say they translate into lower monthly premiums for Medicare Advantage participants and extra services such as vision and dental care.

The House bill had strong support from the American Medical Association. AARP also endorsed the measure. “With a deadline fast approaching, AARP strongly urges the Senate to support the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act passed by the House earlier this week. This bill will help people in Medicare by maintaining their access to doctors, implementing electronic prescribing and bolstering Medicare’s low-income programs,” said Senior Vice President of Government Affairs David Sloane.

“Medicare’s low-income programs have been hindered by an unreasonable asset test, which prevented low-income older Americans with even a meager retirement nest egg from getting help with their health care bills,” Sloane said. The legislation will raise asset limits and streamline the application process for those who need extra help.

It “will also bring our doctors’ offices and pharmacies into the 21st century” by establishing a national system of electronic prescribing that will save lives and money by reducing harmful drug interactions, Sloane said.