House Passes Medicaid Bill 349-62

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 25 Apr 2008 - 7:00 PDT

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The House on Wednesday voted 349-62 to pass a bill (HR 5613) aimed at blocking seven new Medicaid regulations, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports (Abrams, AP/Houston Chronicle, 4/23). The 349 votes for the bill, which included 221 Democrats and 128 Republicans, is 75 more votes than would be required to override a presidential veto (Lengell, Washington Times, 4/24).

The bill now heads to the Senate, where supporters hope to garner enough support to approve the bill despite veto threats from the Bush administration, CQ Today reports. HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said he is "quite confident there will be significant resistance in the Senate" to the legislation (Stern/Armstrong, CQ Today, 4/23). Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said that he intends "to work with my colleagues here in the Senate on strategies to stop harmful Medicaid regulations" (Zhang, Wall Street Journal, 4/24).

The bill seeks to delay Medicaid regulations that could reduce health care coverage for pregnant women, low-income children, nursing home residents and other groups. The seven 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.

A White House statement issued Tuesday said the measure "would put billions of dollars of federal funds at risk and would turn back progress that has already been made to stop abusive state practices." Supporters of HR 5613 have said that the new regulations would unfairly take away Medicaid funds from states and that there is little justifiable basis for the Bush administration to implement them (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 4/23). "Rather than cutting services to beneficiaries, this bill allows for a 'time-out' so that Congress can evaluate what is happening in the states and address any concerns," Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) said in a letter dated Tuesday (Washington Times, 4/24).

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) has introduced a separate bill (S 2819) that would postpone the seven rules, as well as two other regulations -- one involving a board that hears appeals to HHS policies and another involving SCHIP (CQ Today, 4/23).

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