News Alert From
The Executive Report on Managed Care

Congress Overrides Bush's Medicare Veto

President George Bush said he would veto, and he did veto the Medicare bill proposed to prevent physician fee cuts by 10.6 percent.

Congress said they would override, and they did, voting into law the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act giving Medicare physicians a positive outlook on future reimbursements.

The House of Representatives previously passed the bill with a vote of 355-59. They overrode Bush's veto with a 383-41 vote.

The U.S. Senate, rocky at first, finally passed the bill with 69-30. Success was largely attributed to Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) who returned to the Senate after brain surgery to cast his "yea." Kennedy did not return to help the Senate override Bush, but one less did not impact the vote of 70-26.

"Congress voted overwhelmingly to support America's seniors, veterans and their families and persons with disabilities. By overriding the President's veto, Congress stood with seniors who spoke clearly for quality affordable and reliable healthcare under Medicare and against bloated and unnecessary subsidies for insurance companies," said House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

"We are encouraged that this bill stops Medicare cuts for the next 18 months and gives physicians a 1.1 percent payment update to help payments keep up with the increasing cost of providing healthcare to seniors. Current Medicare payments to physicians are about what they were in 2001, while the cost of running a medical practice has increased substantially," said Dr. Nancy Nielsen, president, American Medical Association.

"The bill contains a number of other important provisions, including an extension of expiring provisions that boost payments in rural areas, bonuses for quality reporting, a phase-out of higher co-pays for mental health services, and expansion of the medical home demonstration project and increased payments for anesthesia teaching programs," said Nielsen.

"Because of the bipartisan vote, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act is now the law of the land and America's seniors can celebrate this enormous victory," she said.

Address: American Medical Association, 515 North State Street, Chicago, IL 60610; (800) 621-8335, www.ama-assn.org. Office of the Speaker, H-232, US Capitol, Washington, DC 20515; (202) 225-0100, http://speaker.house.gov.

John Russell
Managing Editor, The Executive Report on Managed Care
Managed Care Information Center