Military Officer - August 2008 - (Page 33)

washingtonscene For Shame Politicians fumble on a Medicare ﬁx, risking a 10.6percent reduction in payments to doctors and the cutoff of Medicare therapy coverage as of July 1. L E G I S L AT I V E N E W S T H AT A F F E C T S Y O U T hey blew it. All of them. The president. Congress. The House and Senate. Republicans and Democrats. They had months to work out a relatively simple deal to prevent a 10.6-percent cut in Medicare payments from taking effect July 1 and to prevent cutting off Medicare coverage for hundreds of thousands of Medicare-eligible speech- and physical therapy patients on that date. But they chose to play political chicken with seniors’ care, and their hardheadedness prevented anything from getting done. Having failed in timely action, Congress took a week’s vacation over Inde- MOAA’s TRICARE champion, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), recently hosted MOAA President Vice Adm. Norb Ryan Jr., USN-Ret. Ryan thanked Lautenberg for leading the legislative battle to defeat excessive TRICARE fee hikes. PHOTO: SEAN SHANAHAN pendence Day and promised to ﬁx things after recess. So what happened here? On June 24, the House overwhelmingly passed a ﬁx (H.R. 6331) that would have stopped the payment cuts, substituted a small increase for doctors seeing Medicare and TRICARE patients, and prevented the therapy cutoff. The vote was a seemingly veto-proof 355 to 59. But Senate Republicans and the president didn’t approve of the funding source for that ﬁx (cutbacks in some Medicare advantage programs that pay those insurance companies up to 17 percent more than regular Medicare does) and pushed an alternative bill. After the overwhelming House vote, Senate leaders tried to bring the bill up for a vote anyway. But when Republicans objected, 60 votes were needed to overcome the objection. They got 59 — not enough to even get a vote, let alone override a threatened presidential veto. Republicans then proposed extending the current rates for 30 days to allow more time for a ﬁx. But that was a nonstarter, because the House already had left town for recess — with House leaders of both parties knowing full well that doing so would preclude any alternative action when the Senate vote failed or the president exercised the expected veto. Because the Senate couldn’t approve any alternative ﬁx without similar action in the House, the House’s early recess assured no action would be taken before July 1. AUGUST 2008 Defense Bill Action Delayed ■ Protracted Senate action on other legislation precluded any action on the FY 2009 Defense Authorization Bill until after the July 4 recess, which was well after press time. So it will be at least another month before we get decisions on pending Senate amendments concerning TRICARE fees, concurrent receipt, reserve retirement age, and more. MILITARY OFFICER 33

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - August 2008

Military Officer - August 2008 Contents MOAA Online From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Chapters in Action Financial Forum Ask the Doctor MOAA Member Services Cover Story: A Stronger Voice Virtual Combat Mental Floss Steady as She Goes Pages of History Faces of MOAA Member Books Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Calendar Sounding Taps MOAA Scholarship Donors Encore

Military Officer - August 2008

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