Last updated May 29, 2008 4:13 p.m. PT
Administration: Don't cut insurer payments
By KEVIN FREKING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is threatening to veto any
legislation that protects doctors' Medicare payments at the expense of
private insurers.
Beginning July 1, reimbursement rates for doctors will drop 10.6
percent when they treat elderly and disabled patients participating in
Medicare.
To keep that from happening, lawmakers are looking at finding at least
$9 billion in savings from other Medicare programs over the next five
years.
At the top of the list for Democrats and some Republicans: private
insurers serving some 9.5 million elderly and disabled beneficiaries
through Medicare Advantage. The insurers get a government subsidy that
many lawmakers say is too generous.
But the administration says cutting the subsidy would result in a loss
of benefits for seniors.
"If the president is presented with legislation that would result in
the loss of access to additional benefits or choices in the Medicare
Advantage program, the president's senior advisers would recommend he
veto the bill," said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
The veto threat came in a May 22 letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-
Iowa, that was circulated Thursday on Capitol Hill.
The threat complicates efforts by lawmakers to find the needed savings
to retain the current level of physician payments, or even raise them
slightly. It's tough to find enough votes to cut payments to any
health care provider in the Medicare program, let alone find enough
support to overcome a presidential veto.
Leavitt said the higher physician payments should occur by adjusting
payments to other providers in traditional Medicare. Examples of other
providers would be hospitals, nursing homes and sellers of medical
equipment such as wheelchairs and oxygen tanks.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., is overseeing the crafting of Medicare
legislation on the Senate side. His spokeswoman, Carol Guthrie, said
that while the senator was aware of the administration's concerns,
advisory commissions have reported that the government pays about 13
percent more for patients in Medicare Advantage than for comparable
patients in traditional Medicare.
"Congress has a duty to Medicare beneficiaries and to all taxpayers to
modify payments when they are found to be out of line," Guthrie said.