 |
| Fixing Medicare |
September 27, 2000 |
| |
| Dear Friends,
It was a long day in the Commerce Committee yesterday, but we accomplished something important for New Mexico. We passed a bipartisan bill that adds $21 billion into Medicare over the next 5 years, and it fixes some of the most serious problems in the program confronting New Mexicans.
A few months ago, Bill Luther (D-MN) and I introduced a bill to fix the discrimination in Medicare Choice that reimburses some states twice as much for health care as New Mexico gets. 15,000 of New Mexico`s seniors have been told that they will have to go back to regular Medicare at the end of this year because their health plan can`t keep offering Medicare Choice. The people on these plans tend to be lower income. The plans tend to cost less than other Medigap coverage and offer some prescription drug coverage.
Last week the House leadership decided that the Commerce Committee, on which I serve, would get a shot at writing the Mediare bill. I saw this as our best chance and we set to work trying to get the Wilson-Luther proposal incorporated into the bill.
It took a lot of hussle, persuasion, budget estimates, phone calls and insistence, but we did it. I was even a little surprised myself!
The bill would raise the minimum amount the federal government pays in any county for Medicare Choice to $525 per person per month in any metropolitan area with greater than 250,000 people, and $475 per person per month in all other counties. (Currently, the rate for Albuquerque is $430 and for Torrance County is $370.) The bill also would allow companies who announced that they will withdraw from the program last July to reconsider and stay in.
There are still hoops to jump through and negotiations to engage in, but this is a big deal, particularly because the states that are most affected -- New Mexico, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon -- don`t have a lot of votes in the House of Representatives.
If we can keep a fix like this together and get something similar through the Senate, it will put about $34 million into New Mexico`s ailing health care system next year alone and might let a whole lot of seniors keep their doctor and their health plan come New Years.
We`ll keep working it!
Wish you were here,
Heather |
|
|
|