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Congress Overrides President’s Veto on Medicare Relief Bill |
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Congress Overrides
President’s Veto on Medicare Relief Bill
Tuesday evening, July 15, Congress overrode President Bush’s veto of H.R. 6331,
the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, with the
House voting 383 – 41 and the Senate voting 70 – 26 in favor of the
override. President Bush vetoed the bill because the chosen method of
paying for restoring the cuts to Medicare physician fees that had taken effect
July 1 was to reduce payments to Medicare Advantage (managed care) plans, which
the President opposed. H.R. 6331 is important to long-term care providers
because it includes an 18-month delay of the Part B therapy caps and an
18-month moratorium on the DME competitive bidding process (DMEPOS). The
therapy cap rollback is retroactive to July 1 (see below for more
information). It is also important to note that the bill does not use the
skilled nursing facility cost of living adjustment as a way to pay for
restoring the physician fees. The physician fee issue was the major
reason for the urgency in passing H.R. 6331.
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How to Pay for Care
