Hospitals Lobby Against Proposed Medicare Cuts In Infrastructure Bill
Hospitals were already disappointed to not get new funding out of the infrastructure deal. The industry also objects to measures included to pay for the $1.2 trillion package -- such as additional Medicare reimbursement reductions and clawing back unspent covid relief funds. Meanwhile, the White House touts the benefits of the legislation.
Modern Healthcare:
Hospitals Decry Extending Medicare Cuts To Pay For Infrastructure Bill
Not only did hospitals not get the money they sought in President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure package, they could actually see Medicare payment cuts under the proposal. Under the framework Biden announced alongside Democratic and Republican senators at the WHite House last week, Medicare reimbursement reductions would help cover the legislation's $1.2 trillion cost. The plan would reduce Medicare payments to hospitals and other providers by 2% through at least 2031. (Hellmann, 6/29)
The New York Times:
Biden Kicks Off Sales Tour To Salvage Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal
President Biden opened a combination road show and apology tour centered on his bipartisan infrastructure deal on Tuesday in La Crosse, Wis., as he sought to reassure Republicans that he was committed to the agreement he struck last week and convince liberal and centrist Democrats that the compromise had not dimmed his economic ambitions. Mr. Biden praised the $579 billion bipartisan pact, promising it would bring faster internet, less traffic and safer drinking water to Americans in Wisconsin and across the country. In many cases, he promised the same or at least similar benefits that he predicted when rolling out his more ambitious $4 trillion plan earlier this year. (Tankersley, 6/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Biden, In Wisconsin, Touts Job-Creating Potential Of Infrastructure Deal
President Biden hailed his infrastructure deal as a job-creating economic boon, while progressive Democrats signaled they would give the president wiggle room on selling the plan, which they want paired with a wide-ranging antipoverty proposal. Mr. Biden visited a transit station in La Crosse, Wis., offering a detailed rundown of the roughly $1 trillion agreement reached with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to modernize aging roads, bridges and broadband networks, eliminate lead from water pipes and build new charging stations for electric vehicles. (Thomas and Peterson, 6/29)
Politico:
Buttigieg: Infrastructure Bills Are ‘Linked In People’s Lives’
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg argued on Tuesday that the recently brokered bipartisan infrastructure package is “linked” in the lives of Americans with a potentially party-line reconciliation bill being advanced by congressional Democrats. ... “We want to get both [bills] through,” Buttigieg said in an interview on MSNBC. “Because we view them as — in people’s lives, these things are linked, right? You don’t think about your cost of transportation one month, and then the next month, you think about the cost of child care. People are living these things all at the same time, and Congress is dealing with these things all at the same time.” (Forgey, 6/29)
