It’s football season again. Spain whipped Germany in Euro 2008 futbol. In America, summer training camps are under way. And in Washington, DC, Congress can’t figure out what to do with the football that is the Medicare physician fee fix bill.
The bill passed by Congress last year which would avoid a drop in payments to physicians will expire tomorrow (June 30, 2008). Last week, Congress took their July 4th recess without passing a bill to overturn the impending 10.6% reduction in physician payments. The reductions are schedule to begin on July 1.
The two weeks brought serious of fourth quarter, action-packed series of votes in both houses of Congress, not to mention a dizzying amount of back-room deal-making. Last week, the Senate failed by one vote to get the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and move to final passage of HR 6331, the House-passed version of the fee fix bill. In a move of unity, Senators Clinton and Obama were rushed to the Senate to participate in voting, but it did not impact the outcome.
Senate Democratic leadership were emboldened by a stunning vote earlier last week, where the House passed the bill by a veto-proof margin of 355-59. House Democrats picked up many Republicans who are running in close elections, as well as Republicans who will be retiring, thereby defying the President’s veto threat.
HR 6331 is largely the Senate Democratic measure developed by Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). House Democratic leaders decided to abandon the Medicare sections they passed last year under the Child Health and Medicare Protection Act in favor of this overtly political move to force the Senate to defy the White House. Congressional members also wanted to politically capitalize on a General Accountability Office (GAO) report released this week showing that insurance companies offering Medicare Advantage plans are overpaid. President Bush has repeatedly threatened to veto any legislation from Congress that includes cuts to Medicare Advantage plans as part of the physician fee fix legislation.
Last Tuesday, the House Democrats brought HR 6331 to the floor, just as Chairman Baucus and Finance Ranking Republican Charles Grassley (R-IA) had reached a compromise on the Medicare physician fix bill which the President was expected to sign. This measure would provide a smaller update for physicians, but still extend the fix for 18 months, but would not include cuts to Medicare Advantage plans opposed by George Bush’s administration. With the overwhelming vote in the House, Senate Democratic leadership decided to scuttle the bipartisan bill and take up the House-passed bill. But because the Senate could not gather the 60 votes needed to proceed to HR 6331, nothing will happen and the pay cut will go into effect on July 1. So, Congress will be heading into overtime when it returns.
The Senate will likely overturn the cuts when they return…and make them retroactive to July 1. But it’s completely unclear if the Senate will move forward with the partisan HR 6331, or take up the scuttled bipartisan bill when they return. My vote is on the bipartisan bill.
Watch for 4th of July fireworks on Independence Day…and when Congress returns. It’s gridiron gridlock in Congress for a little while longer.
