Senate GOP To Offer Pared-Down Medicare Physician Pay Patch Bill
Senate Finance Committee Republicans on Wednesday announced they would offer a pared-down bill that would eliminate a 10.6% reduction to Medicare physician fees, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, Senate Republicans are "apparently losing faith in Democrats to produce a Medicare bill by the end of the month." The fee cut is scheduled to go into effect on July 1. The draft measure, which will be introduced by Finance Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), would extend some Medicare programs for 18 months and replace the fee reduction with a 0.5% increase in 2008 and a 1.1% increase in 2009. The cost of the bill would be offset by cutting indirect medical education payments under Medicare Advantage and "moving around funds" in an account for Medicare physician payments, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, the fee increases and the offsets are similar to another measure (S 3118) by Grassley. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, "With the deadline for action approaching at the end of next week, we should pass a bill."
Democrats Considering Options
Meanwhile, Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday met with House Democratic leadership to discuss options for a Medicare package after his measure (S 3101) failed to receive enough votes for cloture last week (Armstrong, CQ Today, 6/18). According to CongressDaily, Democrats Baucus, Finance Health Subcommittee Chair Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (N.Y.), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (Mich.) and Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Chair Frank Pallone (N.J.) attended the meeting. The lawmakers would not disclose their plans as they left the meeting, CongressDaily reports. Baucus said he doubted a bill would reach the floor this week (Edney, CongressDaily, 6/19). However, he said, "We're going to get this done by June 30" (CQ Today, 6/18).
GOP Pushes Grassley To Include Pharmacy Provisions
On Tuesday, 18 Senate Republicans sent Grassley a letter asking him to include two pharmacy provisions in Medicare legislation that were not included in his previously introduced bill. One would ensure that pharmacies are paid promptly for drugs dispensed to Medicare beneficiaries. The other would delay a Medicaid regulation that would reduce reimbursements for generic drugs. The provisions were included in Baucus' measure. If Grassley were to include them in his legislation, he would have to find additional offsets, according to CongressDaily.
House Democrats Scrutinize Private Fee-for-Service Plans in MA
Meanwhile, Ways and Means Committee Democrats on Wednesday released documents criticizing so-called private fee-for-service plans under MA and minimizing the significance of their necessity, CongressDaily reports (CongressDaily, 6/19). MA plans, on average, are paid 117% of what traditional Medicare pays (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/6). They said that lawmakers could eliminate the plans under MA and 99% of beneficiaries still would have coverage options under the program. A Republican aide countered that the plans are the fastest growing under the program, with 400,000 new enrollees between January and April (CongressDaily, 6/19).
