House Fails To Pass Entire War Funding Package, Passes Measure That Includes Medicaid Provision

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Public Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 19 May 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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The House on Thursday did not approve all portions of a supplemental war funding package but did pass the domestic portion of the package -- which includes a provision that would prevent seven new Medicaid regulations from taking effect until April 1, 2009 -- the Washington Post reports.

According to the Post, House leaders broke the package into three measures -- one that would fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, one that included Iraq-related policy provisions and one that included domestic provisions (Weisman, Washington Post, 5/16). The chamber voted 256-166 to pass the domestic portion and passed the Iraq policy portion by a 227-196 vote, but it later rejected the war spending portion by a 149-141 vote. According to the AP/Miami Herald, two-thirds of House Democrats voted against the war funding portion of the measure, and 132 Republicans voted "present" in protest to Democratic "strong-arm" tactics in trying to advance the "must-pass" measure (Taylor, AP/Miami Herald, 5/15).

According to the Post, the eventual outcome of the Medicaid rules and other domestic provisions is unclear. President Bush has vowed to veto legislation blocking the Medicaid rules, but the proposal has received bipartisan support (Washington Post, 5/16). The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved its version of the supplemental package, which also included the Medicaid provision (Kivlan, CongressDaily, 5/16).

The seven Medicaid rule changes at issue aim to restrict services covered by some states' case management plans; limit Medicaid reimbursement to public hospitals; narrow federal Medicaid reimbursement eligibility for outpatient hospital services; bar federal reimbursement for transportation to school and school-based care for Medicaid-eligible children; restrict the types of "rehabilitative" services covered by federal funding; reduce federal Medicaid reimbursement for students at teaching hospitals; and limit taxes some states charge health providers (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/12).

According to CQ Today, the Senate now will have to combine its version with the House version and secure Republican support to advance the legislation. The Senate plans to hold three separate votes on the supplemental amendments, allowing lawmakers to vote in favor of or against different portions of the legislation (Higa/Rogin, CQ Today, 5/15).

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