Bush Administration’s Planned Medicare Cut Generates Strong, Bipartisan Opposition on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In a demonstration of strong, bipartisan opposition to a Bush Administration regulatory action that will cut $770 million in seniors’ Medicare Part A nursing home funding in 2009, 40 Senators and 108 U.S. House members have joined U.S. Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Norm Coleman (R-MN), and U.S. Representatives Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Shelley Berkley (D-NV), to send separate letters to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt, warning Medicare beneficiaries are “severely threatened” by the Administration’s imminent action. U.S. Senator John Warner (R-VA) has sent his own separate letter to Secretary Leavitt expressing his concerns.

The chamber-specific letters to HHS Secretary Leavitt warn the planned Medicare changes “will jeopardize the significant quality improvements made by the skilled nursing facility (SNF) community in recent years as well as the ability of SNFs to continue caring for high acuity patients. Because SNFs rely on Medicare to make up for chronic underfunding by the Medicaid program – an average of $13 per day for every Medicaid beneficiary in nursing homes nationwide – it is critically important that Medicare reimbursement remain fair and consistent. We believe that if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) were to finalize its proposed rule, the ability of providers to care for our nation’s most vulnerable population – the frail elderly and disabled – would be severely threatened.”

The Conrad-Coleman Senate letter to Secretary Leavitt has been signed by:

Senators Akaka (D-HI), Alexander (R-TN), Burr (R-NC), Cantwell (D-WA), Cardin (D-MD), Casey (D-PA), Chambliss (R-GA), Coleman (R-MN), Collins (R-ME), Conrad (D-ND), Crapo (R-ID), Dodd (D-CT), Dole (R-NC), Dorgan (D-ND), Harkin (D-IA), Inouye (D-HI), Isakson (R-GA), Johnson (D-SD), Klobuchar (D-MN), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Lieberman (I-CT), Lincoln (D-AR), Menendez (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Nelson, Ben (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Reed (D-RI), Roberts (R-KS), Salazar (D-CO), Sanders (I-VT), Snowe (R-ME), Specter (R-PA), Stabenow (D-MI), Sununu (R-NH), Webb (D-VA), Whitehouse (D-RI), and Wyden (D-OR).

The Pomeroy-Capito-Berkley letter to Sec. Leavitt has been signed by 108 House members, and a final list will be distributed upon completion later this afternoon.

“It is significant and noteworthy that such a strong, bipartisan, ideologically-diverse group of lawmakers – over forty percent of the entire U.S. Senate – has publicly declared their opposition the Bush Administration’s damaging Medicare funding reductions, and we thank them for their leadership in doing so,” said Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA. “The scope and breadth of this congressional opposition, particularly among key members of the President’s own party, demonstrates members on both sides of the aisle have objectively evaluated the facts, and how these cuts will undermine the care needs their elderly constituents.”

Alan Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance to Protect Quality Nursing Home Care, observed, “Lawmakers of both parties, in both chambers, have stepped up to oppose the Bush Administration on this important health policy matter because it makes little sense to first jeopardize seniors’ care – and then do so in a manner wasteful of tax dollars. The strong Senate Republican opposition to the Administration’s Medicare regulation clearly speaks for itself. This is bad, ill-considered Medicare policy, and the facts simply do not warrant proceeding with these regulatory-driven Medicare funding cuts.”

The AHCA and Alliance leaders explained that existing Medicare policy was designed to encourage the movement of certain high-acuity Medicare beneficiaries to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). As a result, the site of care for a significant number of high acuity patients appropriately shifted to SNFs, and a recent independent analysis shows this shift saved the Medicare program an estimated $709 million.” (Source: Avalere Health, LLC)

While strongly opposing this specific Bush Administration Medicare policy initiative, AHCA and the Alliance praised the Administration for moving forward on many fronts related to quality improvement that have made a positive difference in seniors’ quality of care and quality of life. After working with the Bush Administration on a variety of successful quality improvement initiatives over the past several years, they said, the profession’s opposition to this specific Medicare regulation is rooted in the fact it illogically reverses several important achievements already benefiting a substantial number of beneficiaries.

American Health Care Association

CONTACT: Susan Feeney of AHCA, +1-202-898-6333; or Debra DeShong Reed ofAlliance, +1-202-528-4214