Policy

Bipartisanship prevails with House vote on Medicare deal

The House, as expected, voted to repeal automatic cuts to doctors under Medicare today. The […]

The House, as expected, voted to repeal automatic cuts to doctors under Medicare today. The bill passed with a vote of 392-37. This was a major victory as far as bipartisan negotiation is concerned.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) worked together to eliminate the ongoing “doc fix” situation, an issue involving the formula known as the sustainable growth rate (SGR). This has been a problem since 2003, and temporarily solving the problem has ended up costing $200 billion, according to The Hill.

Pelosi said it had been a “privilege” to work with Boehner. “I hope it will be a model of things to come,” she said.

Boehner was in agreement about the achievement. “This is what we can accomplish when we focus on finding common ground,” he said, The Hill reported.

What comes next is a ruling from the Senate, which should yield results tomorrow.

The deal crafted by Boehner and Pelosi would cost $214 billion over 10 years, with $73 billion of that cost offset with spending cuts or new revenue, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill includes reforms to transition Medicare’s payment system from incentivizing quantity to quality in care and is likely to produce small savings for the government over time, according to the CBO.

Boehner has said the bill would cost less than if Congress continued on its current course of approving short-term patches.

One issue with the bill involves reproductive care and language involving abortion, which wasn’t necessarily resolved entirely, but was addressed.

Senate Democrats have expressed concerns that the bill includes language from the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for abortions, for community health center funding.

Pelosi was able to secure additional language making clear that the language expires when the funding does, and argues there is no change from the status quo, because the Hyde Amendment already applies to health center funding.

More updates to come once the Senate has a chance to weigh in and call the shots post “vote-a-rama” mayhem.

 

 

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