Senate action on Medicare MD Pay Bill might be delayed due to Medicaid, war funding efforts, AARP lobbyist says

Senate action on legislation to delay a 10.6% Medicare physician fee cut might take a back seat to a supplemental spending bill for the Iraq war and a measure to delay new Medicaid regulations, AARP's lead lobbyist said on Friday, CQ HealthBeat reports. Kirsten Sloan, head of AARP's health legislative team, said efforts on the other two bills might delay the Medicare package until late May or early June.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are leading development of the Medicare package, which is expected to create an 18-month delay to the physician payment cut scheduled for July 1.

A Senate aide on Friday said that the delay in action on the bill is because of ongoing discussions. "This isn't because of Medicaid or Iraq or anything else. And we don't know enough yet to be so specific to say May or June," the aide said (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 5/2).

AARP Wish List

Sloan also said that AARP wants lawmakers to avoid making Medicare more costly for beneficiaries when developing the package. Although past physician fee cut fixes have not contained provisions to help beneficiaries, AARP is pushing for reduced spending in some areas of the program to keep premiums level, she said. Sloan said lawmakers should cut funds for physicians' quality incentives and Medicare stabilization, as well as duplicative funding in Medicare Advantage for indirect medical education. AARP also is pushing for lawmakers to more than double the $12,000 asset limit for beneficiaries to qualify for low-income drug assistance (Edney, CongressDaily, 5/2).

In a letter to Congress, AARP CEO William Novelli late last month urged lawmakers to include an electronic prescribing initiative and a commission on comparative effectiveness of treatments in the Medicare package. AARP on Sunday was scheduled to launch a television advertising campaign that outlines its desires for the package. The ad campaign is scheduled to air through mid-May (CQ HealthBeat, 5/2).