Although President Bush has proposed to reduce funding to programs like Medicare and Medicaid, both houses of Congress have other plans.
Last week, the House of Representatives voted to approve a $3.1 trillion FY 2009 budget that excludes President Bush’s proposed Medicare and Medicaid program cuts. (Kaiser Network)
Kaiser reports (via the Washington Post) that Democrats may wait until the new administration to pass spending bills to avoid the current president’s veto. Meanwhile, Democrats in the Senate are trying to stop a 10 percent cut in Medicare physicians fees. The cut is scheduled to go into effect on July 1, 2008.
As I reported last week, Democrats propose to cut funding to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, which they claim are “overpaid and damaging to traditional Medicare,” to offset the budget bill. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary Mike Leavitt said President Bush will veto any bill that reduces payments to MA plans.
