Late Tuesday night Congress successfully averted a 10.6 percent cut to the Medicare physician reimbursement rate just before it was scheduled to take affect at midnight. Congress voted to override the president’s veto of H.R. 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act.

Under considerable pressure from physician and patient groups, many Republicans split with the president and vote in favor of an override. The House of Representatives voted 383 to 41 to override while the Senate voted 70 to 26. Both well above the required 2/3 majority.

Earlier today President Bush vetoed H.R. 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, which was approved by Congress last week.

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Last week the U.S. Senate was unable to vote on HR 6331, The Medicare Improvements for Patients Providers Act. The Senate voted 58-40 to cut off debate and take up the bill, but they were two votes shy of what was needed.

What does this mean? If the Senate vote to cut off the debate ended up 60-40, the Senate would have been forced to vote on the bill. Instead, the Senate debated endlessly (filibuster) until they finally adjourned to go home for the entire next week. Because of this inaction, payments for physicians who treat Medicare recipients were cut by 10.6 percent on July 1st.

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Yesterday, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and the rest of the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2009 spending bill.

The bill makes major investments in healthcare including:

Colorectal Screenings – The Subcommittee provided $25 million to establish a nation-wide program to support colorectal screenings for low-income individuals.

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As I mentioned last week, the FY08 emergency supplemental appropriations bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. Included in the bill was an additional $150 million for the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The package will now be sent to the Senate where it is expected to be greeted with similar support. It is also important to note that White House Budget Director Jim Nussle went on record last Thursday to express the administration’s approval of the final package.

Stay tuned…