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WORLD> America
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Bush administration freezing cuts in Medicare fees
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-30 23:43 Almost every year, Congress finds a way to block such cuts. But last week the Senate fell just one vote short of the 60 needed to proceed to legislation that would have stopped the cut. Physicians have been running ads hinting that patients may find doctors less willing to treat them. In a particularly vitriolic exchange, Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for what Dr. Nancy H. Nielsen, president of the American Medical Association, said has put the country "at the brink of a Medicare meltdown." "Seniors need continued access to the doctors they trust. It's urgent that Congress make that happen," the AMA said in ads taken out in Capitol Hill newspapers read by members of Congress and their aides. Doctors have complained for years that Medicare payments have failed to cover rising costs. This year majority Democrats homed in on cutting the Medicare Advantage program, which is an ideological issue for both parties. The Bush administration and Republicans like Medicare Advantage because it lets the elderly and disabled choose to get their health benefits through private insurers rather than through traditional Medicare. Democrats argued that government payments to the insurers are too generous. The White House warned that President Bush would be urged to veto a bill that contained cuts to Medicare Advantage. That didn't stop the House last Tuesday from approving the legislation 355-59, well above the margin needed to override a veto. Every Democrat supported it, and Republicans, bucking their president, voted 129-59 for it. |
