House Democrats Attach Bill To Delay Medicaid Regulations To Supplemental War Appropriations Legislation

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 08 May 2008 - 5:00 PST

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Democrats have attached a bill (HR 5613) that would block for one year seven new Medicaid regulations to "must-pass" supplemental war appropriations legislation, CQ Today reports (Wayne, CQ Today, 5/6). The Medicaid legislation would delay implementation of the regulations until April 1, 2009. Under the regulations, proposed by the Bush administration, states could not use federal Medicaid funds to help pay for physician training. The regulations also would place new limits on Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and nursing homes operated by state and local governments and limit coverage of rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities and mental illnesses. In addition, the bill would provide $25 million annually for efforts to fight Medicaid fraud (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/24).

The war appropriations bill will include three sections that Democrats will propose as separate amendments to base legislation (Rogin [1], CQ Today, 5/6). According to CongressDaily, the "strategy is designed to ensure passage of the bill, which would likely not win approval as a whole" (Sanchez/Bourge, CongressDaily, 5/7). The first amendment would provide $96.6 billion for the military in fiscal year 2008 and $66 billion in FY 2009. The second amendment includes conditions for the funds. The third amendment includes funds for a number of domestic and military programs. In addition, the third amendment includes the Medicaid legislation (Rogin [1], CQ Today, 5/6).

The war appropriations bill would cost a total of $183.6 billion (CongressDaily, 5/7). President Bush has threatened to veto the legislation in the event that the cost would exceed $108 billion in FY 2008 (Rogin [2], CQ Today, 5/6).

Prospects
The attachment of the Medicaid bill to the war appropriations legislation could help with passage in the Senate, where the "bill has become tied up" because of filibusters by Republicans, CQ Today reports. According to CQ Today, the move will allow Democrats to "avoid an extra set of cloture votes," and, although "Republicans could filibuster the war spending bill itself or offer an amendment to strip out the Medicaid provisions," such efforts would "probably be unsuccessful" (Wayne, CQ Today, 5/6).

In the House, the move "drew criticism from fiscally conservative Democrats," CQ Today reports (Rogin [2], CQ Today, 5/6). House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday said that the House might vote on the war appropriations bill on Thursday (Bourge/Sanchez, CongressDaily, 5/6). "Democratic sources said that so far they do not appear to have the votes for passage of the measure," but "Democratic leadership aides predicted that they would ultimately get the measure approved," according to CongressDaily (CongressDaily, 5/7).

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