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| Postcard: Fixing Medicare Choice |
October 17, 2000 |
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| Dear Friends,
I have a rule: nothing is over until long after it happens. But last week we made some important progress in fixing a problem with Medicare that
discriminates against New Mexico.
Since early this summer, I have been working to remedy the Medicare reimbursement system under which the federal government pays $430 per person
per month for people in Albuquerque and almost twice that in other states for Medicare Choice. St. Joseph`s announced this summer that they were going to have to pull out of the program completely and Presbyterian Secure Horizons and Lovelace Senior Plan were limiting their service and/or leaving some counties.
In all, 15,000 seniors were told that they would have to go back to regular fee-for-service Medicare effective January 1, 2000.
In July, I introduced a bi-partisan bill in the House and Senator Domenici introduced one in the Senate that will help a lot to remedy this problem. Over the last two weeks, we`ve been working to get our fix made a part of the
$27 billion over 5 years Medicare package that we expect to vote on this week or next in both Houses and send to the President. The bill sets a new "floor" for metropolitan areas of $525 per month and $475 per month in rural areas. And companies that announced they were going to have to curtail service on January 1 could stay in.
Monday I met with the leaders of New Mexico`s health plans -- Lovelace, Presbyterian and St. Joe`s. Senator Domenici and I signed a letter to them asking them to reconsider their decision to withdraw if we can get this bill passed. You can read the letter here.
The health plans can speak for themselves, but I was encouraged by my meetings. We`ll keep you posted.
Good to be home,
Heather
p.s. The Congress was scheduled to adjourn October 6th, though we rarely meet that schedule. We`re working on the final spending bills and negotiating with the White House. I expect to fly back to Washington on
Wednesday for votes on the final pieces of the federal budget, Medicare and a handful of other things. The Congress may adjourn by the end of this week. |
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