Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Senate Delays Medicare Provider Cuts, Clears Way To Raise Debt Ceiling
Modern Healthcare: Senate Votes To Avert Medicare Cuts To Providers
The Senate on Thursday evening voted 59-34 to avert looming Medicare cuts to providers, sending the legislation to President Biden's desk for signature. The highly-anticipated vote comes weeks before the cuts were set to take effect, putting providers on edge as lawmakers hammered out a final deal. The bill, which passed the House earlier this week, will delay 2% cuts to Medicare rates through March 2022 and punt a separate round of 4% Medicare cuts totaling about $36 billion to 2023. (Hellmann, 12/9)
The New York Times: Senate Clears Last Major Hurdle To Raising Debt Ceiling
The Senate on Thursday cleared away the last major hurdle to raising the debt ceiling, approving legislation that would all but guarantee that Congress will be able to move quickly in the coming days to steer the government away from a first-ever federal default. ... The measure was packaged with legislation that would postpone scheduled cuts to Medicare, farm aid and other mandatory spending programs, a sweetener for reluctant Republicans who have held firm against giving Democrats the ability to raise the debt ceiling. (Cochrane, 12/9)
Politico: Congress Clears Schumer-McConnell Debt Pact
The Senate passed a one-time loophole Thursday night to empower Democrats to raise the debt limit on their own, a major step toward warding off mid-December economic fallout. The chamber cleared the bill in a 59-35 vote, sending it on to President Joe Biden. Once signed into law, the measure would give Senate Democrats a free pass to raise the U.S. borrowing limit in a simple-majority vote, rather than facing the usual 60-vote hurdle to move legislation forward. ... The bill the Senate passed Thursday would also avert another fiscal cliff, staving off billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare payments and agriculture subsidies that come as a side effect of using the budget reconciliation process Democrats employed to enact a $1.9 trillion pandemic aid package in March. (Scholtes, 12/9)
In related news —
The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Drop Vaping Tax From Senate Plan As They Negotiate Bill Details
Senate Democrats are dropping a proposal that would have imposed taxes on vaping, removing a $9 billion provision backed by some public-health advocates from the party’s healthcare, education and climate-change bill, people familiar with the matter said. Lawmakers made the decision as they wrap up the details of the $2 trillion Build Back Better package and attempt to get it through the Senate before Christmas. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D., Nev.), a Finance Committee member in a tough re-election race, pushed to remove the tax and helped force its deletion. (Duehren and Rubin, 12/9)
Modern Healthcare: Key Lawmakers Seek To Make Telehealth Flexibilities Permanent
A powerful House chairman introduced a bill Thursday that would permanently remove restrictions on where Medicare patients can access telehealth services but would make other telehealth coverage policies only temporary. The bill, sponsored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), would permanently lift a restriction that says patients must live in rural areas and receive telehealth services at participating health facilities for it to be covered by Medicare. Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), the senior Republican on the panel's health subcommittee, is a cosponsor. (Hellman, 12/9)
KHN: West Virginia Sen. Manchin Takes The Teeth Out Of Democrats’ Plan For Seniors’ Dental Care
Sharon Marchio misses having teeth for eating, speaking and smiling. For the past few years, after the last of her teeth were extracted, she’s used dentures. “My dentist calls them my floating teeth because no matter how much adhesive you use, if you eat something hot or warm, they loosen up and it is a pain,” said Marchio, 73, of Clarksburg, West Virginia. Marchio believes that losing her teeth was merely part of getting older. It’s quite common in West Virginia, where a quarter of people 65 and older have no natural teeth, the highest rate of any state in the country, according to federal data. (Galewitz, 12/10)
In other news from Capitol Hill —
The Washington Post: Democratic Ad Claims Cortez Masto Helped ‘Lower Costs’ For Prescription Drugs
“Catherine Cortez Masto knows working families deserve better. That’s why she worked with both parties to help lower Nevadans’ costs. Lower costs for our health-care premiums and prescription drugs.”— Ad from Majority Forward, a political advocacy group supporting Senate Democrats, Dec. 8, 2021. Blink and you’ll miss it: This ad takes a sudden turn into deceptive territory between the second and third sentences. (Rizzo, 12/10)
Bangor Daily News: Maine Providers Question How Democrats’ Social Spending Bill Will Help Solve Child Care Woes
Anita McCurdy has raised her weekly rates five times in the 27 years she’s been working as a child care provider. She now charges parents $150 per week to watch over their children at her home in Machias, where she oversees 10 kids who range in age from six weeks to 7 years old. “I’m one of the lowest priced [providers] around,” McCurdy said. She recently had to raise her rate to the current one to account for increasing oil and electricity prices and sanitation supplies. (Russell, 12/10)
