WASHINGTON – Energy and Commerce Committee Vice Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) hailed passage of H.R. 6331, Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, which passed on a vote of 355 to 59 – a veto proof margin. DeGette supported the measure which prevents a pending ten percent payment reduction for physicians in Medicare, enhances Medicare preventive and mental health benefits, improves and extends programs for low-income Medicare beneficiaries, and extends provisions for rural and other providers.

"Not only will this measure eliminate the scheduled ten percent cut to Medicare physicians, but it also provides a 1.1 percent update for 2009," said DeGette. "A rate update is desperately needed to maintain quality care for Medicare patients. Ignoring this problem any longer would be devastating to patient care across Colorado and the nation."

If the bill is not signed into law, Medicare will provide $110 million less to support care for Colorado’s elderly and disabled patients over the 18 months from July 2008 through December 2009 due to a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments in July 2008 and an additional 5 percent cut in 2009. All told, elderly and disabled patients in Colorado stand to lose $2.1 billion in Medicare support by 2016 due to nearly a decade of cuts.

Click here to watch U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette’s statement on the bill.

Although physician reimbursement was the focus of today’s bill, numerous improvements to the Medicare program and beneficiary protections were included: providing incentives for physicians to use e-prescribing technology and extending and vastly improving low-income assistance programs for very-low-income Medicare beneficiaries.

"This measure also includes a two-year reauthorization of the Special Diabetes Programs for Type 1 Diabetes. I have been working to support and reauthorize these programs for many years, and thanks to over a decade of investment in the Special Diabetes Programs, which were created in 1997, we can point to tangible and significant progress—such as the creation of an artificial pancreas—that is improving the lives of many people," DeGette concluded.

U.S. Rep. DeGette is the Co-Chair of the House Diabetes Caucus.

Measure Also Enhances Medicare and Provides Two-Year Reauthorization of Special Diabetes Programs