The U.S. House of Representatives voted 383-41 on Tuesday to override President George Bush's veto of legislation protecting doctors from a 10.6 percent cut in their reimbursement rates when treating Medicare patients.
About an hour later, the Senate voted to override, 70-26, also easily meeting the two-thirds threshold needed to reject the president's veto.
The president said he supported rescinding the pay cut, but he objected to the way lawmakers would finance the plan, which would be largely by reducing spending on private health plans serving the elderly and disabled.
"I support the primary objective of this legislation, to forestall reductions in physician payments," Bush said in a statement. "Yet taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians is wrong."
Lawmakers were under pressure from doctors and the elderly patients they serve to void the rate cut, which kicked in on July 1. The cut is based on a formula that establishes lower reimbursement rates when Medicare spending levels exceed established targets. About 600,000 doctors treat Medicare patients.
Democratic lawmakers used a variety of terms to describe Bush's veto earlier Tuesday. Some called it "meaningless." Others called it "mean-spirited."
"His days of doing us harm are very, very limited," said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Instead of a cut, the legislation would freeze Medicare rates for doctors in 2008 and would increase them by 1.1 percent in 2009. The legislation generates the revenue necessary to pay doctors more by reducing spending on private health insurance plans. Those plans serve more than 9 million people through the Medicare Advantage program.
Source:Xinhua
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