Congress Overrides Medicare Veto
July 28th, 2008 Posted in Announcements/News, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Patient Services
Congress Overrides Medicare Veto
On July 15th, President Bush vetoed the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331). However, Congress acted quickly to override the veto; the House voted 383-41 and the Senate voted 70-26. Had the veto gone through, Medicare reimbursement rates to doctors would have been cut by 10.6 percent, among other things.The bill was of particular concern to blood cancer patients, as the bill included a provision to extend the “freeze” by 18 months on the Medicare reimbursement formula for the radioimmunotherapies Bexxar® and Zevalin®, which are used to
treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Without such a freeze, radioimmunotherapy reimbursement rates would be drastically reduced and access to this valuable therapy would be threatened for many lymphoma patients.Congress was under pressure from doctors and elderly patients to pass the legislation quickly as the proposed cuts went into effect on July 1. Instead of the cuts, the Medicare reimbursement rates will remain the same for the remainder of 2008 and will increase by 1.1 percent in 2009. While this legislation is a short-term fix for the Medicare reimbursement rates, the goal for lawmakers is now to create a long-term solution.
Thank you to all of the advocates across the country that took a moment to urge their elected officials to override the veto and ensure that patients with lymphoma or other blood cancers have access to Medicare coverage and potentially lifesaving treatments.
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August 16th, 2008 at 4:07 am
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!