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Medicare Bill to help Seniors falls one vote short in Senate

In the Senate on Thursday night, supporters of H.R. 6331, the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008,” fell one vote short of the 60 needed to close debate and bring the measure up for a vote. 

On Tuesday, the U.S. House had voted 355-59 in favor of the bill, which would have helped more seniors qualify for help paying Medicare premiums by fixing the current personal assets test. 

In addition, the bill would have stopped scheduled payment cuts to doctors who treat Medicare patients and improved Medicare’s preventive benefits, by eliminating several co-payments and bringing mental health parity to Medicare benefits. 

The final vote was 58-40, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) changing his vote to “No” to preserve the right to bring up the legislation again later. 

Senators Mitch McConnell (KY), Arlen Specter (PA) and John Sununu (NH) were among the 40 Senators whose vote would have made all the difference in reaching cloture.  The complete results of the Senate vote are available by clicking here.  Alliance members sent more than 3,400 letters to Congress urging passage of the bill. 

“Once again, Alliance members came through in the clutch,” said George J. Kourpias, President of the Alliance. 

“Our members were heard loud and clear: ‘We will not settle for a compromise that leaves seniors out.  Senators who voted wrong cannot say no one spoke up.” 

Congress could take up the issue again after the July 4 recess and pass legislation that retroactively restores the physician fee cut.  However, such a move would disrupt the payments to physicians. Complete results of the House vote are available at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll443.xml.