medicare funding passes

Does this mean the scheduled cuts will not go into effect?

correct

That's a relief, because it is going to be hard enough already to find a general practitioner willing to take me as a patient.

Yes, and you have Teddy Kennedy to thank for it. He cast the 60th vote, the one necessary for passage.



Senate passes Medicare bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Medicare bill opposed by the White House won final congressional approval on Wednesday with the help of Sen. Edward Kennedy who returned to the U.S. Capitol for the first time since brain surgery last month.

With Kennedy's surprise appearance, he and fellow Democrats managed to overcome a Republican procedural hurdle and pass the measure earlier approved by the House of Representatives.

The bill would cancel a scheduled 11 percent pay cut to doctors who treat Medicare patients. It would also shave $13 billion in reimbursements to insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc and Aetna that contract with the Medicare program.

And, in fact, several Republicans switched votes to make the total 69 - a veto-proof majority.

Cycloptichorn

Miller will be so disappointed . Old people might actually get medical care.

Reuters just updated with more details...


Senate passes Medicare bill with Kennedy's help

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Medicare bill opposed by the White House won final congressional approval on Wednesday with the help of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who returned to the Senate floor for the first time since brain surgery last month.

With Kennedy's dramatic and surprise appearance, he and fellow Democrats overcame a Republican procedural hurdle and, on a voice vote, passed the measure earlier approved by the House of Representatives.

"Aye," declared a smiling Kennedy of Massachusetts -- a Democratic icon, the party's leading liberal voice and a longtime champion of expanding health care. Democratic as well as Republican colleagues applauded.

The bill would cancel a scheduled 11 percent pay cut to doctors who treat Medicare patients. It is largely funded by cutting about $13 billion in reimbursements to insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc and Aetna Inc that contract with the Medicare program.

The Bush administration opposes any effort to trim payments to private health plans. The president has said the move would limit plan choices for seniors. But doctors and the seniors' group AARP waged an aggressive lobbying effort to prevent the doctors' pay cut.

"This is pretty much a done deal. The president is not going to win this fight," Ipsita Smolinski, a health care analyst with JP Morgan, said after the Senate vote.

The White House had no comment.

Medicare is the federal health insurance program for 44 million elderly and disabled Americans. About 10 million seniors use the private plans known as Medicare Advantage.

Last month, an effort to clear a Republican procedural hurdle on the bill in the 100-member Senate came up one vote short of the needed 60.

After Kennedy cast his vote to end the roadblock, nine Republicans who had earlier opposed the measure voted for the popular election-year bill.

Kennedy underwent surgery for removal of a malignant brain tumor on June 3. He has been undergoing chemotherapy and was not expected to return to the Senate until at least late this month.

But in a telephone call late Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, Kennedy said he wanted to come back early to help in the fight for Medicare, aides said.

Kennedy entered the Senate to a standing ovation, accompanied by his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat. Following behind was presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, an Illinois senator.

Tourists in the normally quiet visitors gallery rose, applauded and cheered Kennedy, his party's leading liberal voice. Kennedy's wife, Vicki, and niece, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, were among those in the packed gallery.

The bill garnered a veto-proof majority of 69 in favor, with 30 opposed. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona was the only member of the Senate not to vote. He was campaigning as his party's presumptive presidential nominee. He told reporters traveling with him he would have opposed the measure.

The shares of companies that operate one lucrative version of the Medicare Advantage program, called "fee-for-service," will be weaker on Thursday, predicted Lehman Brother analyst Tony Clapsis.

"The big losers are certainly anyone who is playing in the private fee for service program," Clapsis said, citing Humana Inc, Universal American Corp and Coventry Health Care Inc.

will Bush veto?

Can't; passed with veto-proof majorities in both houses.

Cycloptichorn

I want to thank those Republicans who voted in favor of this. Without their help it would be in limbo.

Go Teddy! I love that guy. Now he needs to go rest.

OK!!!!!!!!

Kennedy is a hero, to me.

Well, that's two points for old Teddy. One of the worst things that happened to Medicare was having private insurers in on it. It just upped the ante for everyone, and caused situations where clerks were making medical decisions about what was to be paid or not.

That last paragraph may sound strange from someone who believes in the smaller the government the better, but Medicare had become a hybrid fiasco.

People over 65 pay for Medicare. When the privately run "Medicare Advantage" plans came into being, (read H.M.O.") many people jumped on the bandwagon because they thought that they were getting away with murder because on the surface it cost less. Ultimately, it cost MORE for everyone on Medicare.

McCain misses Medicare vote
Jul. 12, 2008 12:00 AM

Presumed Republican presidential candidate John McCain is the only senator who did not vote this week on a Medicare bill that halted doctor pay cuts but slashed billions in funding from private insurers.

The Senate approved the Medicare bill 69-30.

Bush vetoed the bill, and the Dems and Republicans over-ruled his veto in both houses of Congress.

F*ck you, Bush! It's about time.

Cycloptichorn

YES!

No, first of all I'm not disappointed. Second, although the cut was reversed , many MDs now refuse to take either Medicaid or Medicare patients.

Can you blame them?