CQ’s Carey Discusses Medicare Legislation, Debate Over SCHIP, HHS Appropriations Bill

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, examines a House Medicare package, a likely long-term extension of SCHIP and prospects for fiscal year 2008 spending bills in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

According to Carey, prior to the Thanksgiving recess, Senate Finance Committee leaders indicated their panel would mark up Medicare legislation in December, but after failing to reach a deal with committee members, committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said he would negotiate directly with the House. Talks are ongoing, but Carey says that without a mark up, committee members might be less likely to support the bill once it reaches the Senate floor. The bill would stop a scheduled 10% cut in Medicare physician fees and could impose new requirements on Medicare providers to adopt electronic prescribing and health information technology, Carey says.

Despite months of negotiations over the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP, lawmakers say that a long-term extension, rather than an expansion, will be the likely course of action, according to Carey. Democrats intend to pass a long-term extension that would last until the end of the fiscal year; the program currently is operating under a continuing resolution that expires on Friday, Carey adds.

Lastly, Carey discusses how a FY 2008 appropriations bill that includes funding for HHS likely will be part of an omnibus package that would include the remaining 11 unapproved appropriations bills and would split the difference in funding between the amounts of domestic spending favored by Democrats and President Bush. Democrats plan to appropriate about $11 billion more than the $933 billion in FY 2008 discretionary spending requested by Bush. The House is set to vote Tuesday on the omnibus plan, where it is expected to pass, but the timetable for Senate action is unclear, Carey says (Carey, "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ," 12/10).

The complete audio version of "Health on the Hill," transcript and resources for further research are available online at kaisernetwork.org.