Trust me, this just tops my nasty day....
House Approves Budget Spending Cut Bill, With Changes for Medicare, Medicaid
The House on Wednesday voted 216-214 to approve the fiscal year 2006 budget reconciliation bill (S 1932), which contains more than $39 billion in cuts, including $6.4 billion from Medicare and $4.8 billion from Medicaid, the New York Times reports (Stolberg, New York Times, 2/2). The House on
Dec. 19, 2005, voted 212-206 to approve the bill, but procedural moves in the Senate required the House to vote on the bill a second time before the legislation could move to President Bush for consideration. The Senate on Dec. 21, 2005, voted 51-50 to approve the legislation (Kaiser Daily Health Policy! Report, 2/1). All House Democrats voted against the bill, and all but 13 Republican voted in favor of it. Four Republicans who voted in favor of the bill in December voted against it on Wednesday (Fagan/Hurt, Washington Times, 2/2) Under the Medicaid provisions of the bill, most beneficiaries would be required to pay higher copayments for health care services and could be denied service for lack of payment. In addition, penalties would increase for seniors who transfer assets before they apply for long-term Medicaid coverage. The bill would make seniors with home equity of more than $500,000 ineligible for nursing home benefits. In addition, the bill would increase Medicaid coverage for disabled children whose families earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level, beginning Jan. 1, 2007 (Kuhnhenn, Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/2 ). Provisions affecting Medicare include higher premiums for beneficiaries, with greater increases for higher-income beneficiaries, and a freeze in payments for home health care providers,/b> (New York Times, 2/2). The bill also cancels a scheduled ,b>cut in Medicare reimbursements to physicians and provides medical care to some hurricane survivors (Dennis, CQ Today, 2/1). Insurers Should Cover 90-Day Supply of Medications in Emergency Cases for Medicare Beneficiaries, HHS Says Health insurers offering Medicare drug plans must provide beneficiaries with an additional 60-day emergency supply of medication, an extension that increases the emergency supply requirement under the Medicare prescription drug benefit to a total of 90 days, the Bush administration said on Wednesday, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports [now this I do like...i admit] (Freking, AP/Long Island Newsday, 2/2).
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source: kaisernetwork.org
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