Senate Back to Work Today

The Senate is back to work today after a two week break.  There is a scheduled cloture vote that would limit debate on a bill implementing a 30-day freeze to a 21% Medicare cut for doctors.  The 21% reimbursement cut for physicians technically took effect April 1, 2010, but CMS has requested that physicians hold billing for two weeks in anticipation of Senate action today.

Republicans and Democrats reached a stalemate on the bill prior to the spring recess, largely based on disagreement about whether the $9.2 billion cost of the bill should be offset.  The success of a cloture vote today would allow lawmakers another 20 days to consider a longer extension or a permanent solution to the scheduled reductions.  In addition, the more than 200,000 people who lost their jobless benefits on April 5, including subsidies to pay for health insurance through COBRA, would have an opportunity to apply for a one month extension of those benefits.    

Democratic leaders have pledged to work to make an extension retroactive to April 1.  The American College of Emergency Physicians is working with lawmakers to develop a permanent fix to the situation that leaves emergency physicians facing large Medicare cuts yearly based on a formula that is flawed.

Senate Stall

Tuesday in the Senate each political party offered an amendment to the chamber’s health reform bill. A partisan floor discussion ensued, delaying actual votes on the amendments. Two-and-a-half days after discussion of the bill began, not a single vote has been taken. One amendment addresses the need for better women’s health screening services and the other eliminates billions of dollars of spending in Medicare cuts.

This is D.C. politics at it’s best. The Republican strategy seems to be to draw out the discussions as long as possible, knowing that the longer the stall, the less chance that any form of health care reform will pass. The Democrats are working on a strategy to overcome the Republican parliamentary tricks. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) confirmed in Roll Call today that one idea under consideration is the motion to table the Republican amendments, this requires only 51 votes instead of the 60 votes needed for cloture.

On this third day of debate without a single vote taken, frustration is mounting in the Chamber as well as among those whose lives and livelihoods are affected by the outcome.