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Washington, DC -- U.S. Rep. Ron Klein (FL-22) voted in favor of H.R. 4343, the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007. The bill provides a short-term extension of expiring funding provisions for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), Medicare and Medicaid, including replacing the scheduled cut to Medicare physician reimbursement rates, with minor reforms that ensure the legislation is fully paid for."
"I'm disappointed that reauthorizing SCHIP has become a political game," said Klein. "Providing health insurance for 10 million children is simply the right thing to do. While this measure falls short of that mark, I remain committed to working towards that goal in 2008 because our children deserve better than partisan haggling."
The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act will extend current funding for the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) through March 31, 2009, extend the valuable Special Diabetes Program through September 30, 2009, and replace the scheduled 10.1% cut to the Medicare physician reimbursement rate in 2008 with a 0.5% increase through June 30, 2008. The Senate passed the measure yesterday and it will now go to President Bush to be signed into law.
"Stopping the devastating cut to physician reimbursements is also a critical issue for South Florida," continued Klein. "Medicare used to be known as the 'Gold Standard' for physicians because it provided them with fair and sustainable reimbursement rates, but not any more. South Florida currently faces a severe shortage of qualified physicians in part because of the ill-advised Medicare formula that sets physician reimbursement rates."
"While a six-month fix is better than no fix at all, I am still very concerned that we haven't been able to find a permanent solution to this problem. The President and Congress must work together so we don't have to come back every year to the same debate over 'patches' or 'fixes.' Such annual instability is bad for physicians, bad for Medicare beneficiaries, and bad for our health care system."
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