Before House Appropriations Committee, Thompson Addresses Cuts to Medicare Provider Payments, Minority Health Training Program

• Rep. Jesse Jackson (D-Ill.), who questioned a reduction in the proposed HHS budget for a program to train minorities to serve as health professionals. According to Thompson, the program has "not been as successful as other programs" designed to increase the number of health professionals in underserved areas. He added that the administration increased funding for the National Health Service Corps, which in part provides grants and scholarships to providers who agree to work in rural areas.
• Reps. Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) and Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.), who sent a letter last month to Thompson asking HHS to provide a list of Medicare provider reimbursement changes and "ways to offset any increases." Thompson said he will "soon respond" to the letter, adding, "We're going to send up a menu of items" (CongressDaily, 3/6). Medicare reduced physician reimbursement rates on Jan. 1 by 5.4% under a formula approved by Congress in 1997, a system based in part on changes in the nation's gross domestic product. The Bush administration has said that lawmakers, who have raised concerns that the reduction in physician reimbursements will prompt doctors not to treat new Medicare beneficiaries, must offset increases to physician reimbursements with other reductions in the Medicare budget. On Feb. 28, Thompson told members of the House Budget Committee that he hoped to send recommendations to Congress on a proposal to boost Medicare reimbursements for physicians, as well as recommendations on reductions to cover the cost of the increase, within 10 days (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/1).
• Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), who said that the administration's proposed regulation allowing fetuses to qualify for health coverage under CHIP "invites an unnecessary debate" over abortion. Lowey also said that the rule "has glaring holes" (CongressDaily, 3/6). The regulation would clarify the definition of "child" under the CHIP program to allow states to include coverage for children from conception to age 19 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/1). Thompson said that the change is "the fastest and most efficient way" to provide women with coverage for prenatal care. However, Lowey said that a pregnant woman who has health problems not related to the pregnancy may not receive coverage under the regulation. Lowey said that she and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) have introduced legislation that would "expressly make low-income pregnant women eligible" for CHIP. She also pointed out that states can already apply for a federal waiver to cover pregnant women under CHIP. Thompson agreed but said that Congress has not yet passed Lowey's bill and that only two states have applied for the waiver. "If you can pass the bill, we don't need the rule," he said (CongressDaily, 3/6).