This is from Reuters. . . bill passed the House, needs to pass Senate. Bush has threatened a Veto.
June 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to cut billions of dollars in Medicare spending on private health plans to preserve funding for payments to physicians who treat Medicare patients.
U.S. lawmakers face a June 30 deadline to pass legislation blocking a scheduled 11 percent pay cut for Medicare doctors. Analysts believe key Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are close to reaching a compromise on the issue before lawmakers leave on Friday for a July break.
Following is a summary of what is at stake for various health care sectors in the Medicare legislation:
PRIVATE HEALTH INSURERS
To pay for a legislative fix on doctors’ pay, Democrats are targeting about $13 billion in cuts to private health plans that contract with the government for patients on Medicare, the federal health plan for 44 million elderly and disabled. A Republican bill in the Senate proposes smaller cuts, but would still include billions of cuts to Humana Inc (HUM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Aetna Inc (AET.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
The Bush administration has said it will veto any cuts to private plans in Medicare, but analysts expect the White House to go along with smaller cuts.
