Every week, 2,000 - 3,000 Second District residents write to me about the issues pending before Congress, and I work hard to respond to each person as promptly and thoughtfully as possible.  On this "Letter of the Week" blog, I highlight constituent letters that are of general interest.  If you'd like to share your own views, please feel free to e-mail me at any time!

Dear Representative Boyda:

Please vote to override the President's veto of the
Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (HR 6331).
This is important legislation that will make a number of critical
improvements to the Medicare program -especially for beneficiaries such as
myself and my daughter who are living with serious mental illness. Among
critical improvements are:

* Addressing the discriminatory 50% cost sharing requirement for
outpatient mental illness treatment, gradually lowering it to 20% as
required for all other medical treatment (this requirement has kept me
from getting needed private provider treatment),
* Reforming the Medicare Part D benefit to ensure that prescription drug
plan must maintain broad access on their formularies to medications to
treat serious mental illness (including antipsychotics, antidepressants
and anticonvulsants) (a critical issue),
* Restoring coverage under Part D for benzodiazepines,
* Enacting a series of reforms that would allow more low-income
beneficiaries to qualify for the Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) and
thereby avoid the program's "doughnut hole" coverage gap (i qulify for
Kansas medicaid to pay for my Medicare Part D coverage now but had LIS to
pay for it before my Medicaid benefits kicked in), and
* Expanding the Medicare rural hospital FLEX program to increase access
to mental illness treatment services for veterans in rural and frontier
communities (a critical support for our veterans, especially with so many
returining from Iraq with mental health issues and both new and older
military related PTSD).

HR 6331 is a critical step forward in improving Medicare for the many
Americans living with serious mental illnesses.

Sincerely,

John from Manhattan, KS.

Dear John,

We are finally making progress on Medicare. The common sense of the American people has prevailed. I am glad to let you know that Congress has overridden the President's veto of H.R. 6331 (the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act) by substantial margins. I believe that this bill is the first of many steps to improve Medicare and put it on a sound financial footing.

The President initially succeeded in blocking H.R. 6331, and a series of damaging Medicare cuts went into effect on July 1 that were especially devastating to Kansas. That was a sad day, but it prompted an outcry from the American people that was powerful enough to overwhelm the President and the partisanship in the Senate. When Congress overrode the President's veto on July 15, 2008, H.R. 6331 became law and the following changes took effect.

A Raise for Providers: Hundreds of Kansas doctors, therapists, and other providers had to stop seeing new Medicare and Tricare payments on July 1 because they faced payment cuts of 10.6 percent (and more than that in rural areas). Now, instead of cuts, providers get a 1.1 percent raise, and Kansas medical practices have been reopened to new Medicare patients.

Saving Community Pharmacies: This new law ensures that pharmacies will get fair reimbursements in a reasonable time frame. It seems like basic fairness, but past Congresses had endorsed slow-pay and low-bid tactics that were driving drug stores out of business. That was a tragedy, and I'm committed to continuing to work to keep pharmacists in our small towns.

Better Rural Health: For years, Medicare has provided extra payments to ensure that rural areas can retain their doctors, ambulances, clinical laboratories and emergency rooms. Many of those payments expired on July 1. Now, they will be reinstated, and additional bonus payment will be added to support hospitals and help rural ambulances offset crippling gas prices.

Help for Low-Income Seniors: Medicare has programs to help low-income seniors pay their Medicare premiums. As interest rates decline and premiums climb, these programs become more important. This bill expands the assistance provided and eases the limits on who can receive help.

Better Rehab Access: On July 1, most small businesses providing of wheelchairs, oxygen, and other equipment were kicked out of Medicare in Kansas City and nine other metro areas. In addition, rigid caps went into effect on the amount of rehab therapy allowed by Medicare. Both of those provisions are now relaxed and access to speech therapy has been expanded.

H.R. 6331 did all of this without increasing the deficit. It was a good fix to a disastrous situation.

I am sorry that it took so long to get these common-sense changes into law, but I am glad to see that common sense of the great majority of good Americans finally prevailed. Thank you for reaching out to me about this legislation, and please do not hesitate to contact me if there's anything else I can do for you.

Sincerely,

Nancy Boyda
Member of Congress