News in brief - Dec. 5, 2005

Health care IT bill passes Senate - Revised Medicaid cuts pass House - Big defeat for HHS spending bill

Health care IT bill passes Senate

The Senate last month unanimously passed a bipartisan health care information technology bill that would let doctors get federal funding for IT purchases. The Wired for Health Care Quality Act would establish a funding stream of $125 million starting in fiscal year 2006 for IT grants to doctors and other health professionals. The figure would go to $150 million in 2007, after which lawmakers would decide how much to devote to the grants in each annual budget.

The House has not introduced a companion bill but is considering other pieces of health IT legislation that could be combined with the Senate bill in a conference committee.

Revised Medicaid cuts pass House

The House of Representatives last month approved a budget reconciliation measure containing roughly $11.4 billion in net cuts to Medicaid over the next five years. House Republican leaders pulled the original version of the bill, which would have slashed net Medicaid spending by an additional $490 million, when several GOP members complained about the proposed cuts' severity. To ensure passage, bill handlers dialed back provisions that would raise beneficiaries' co-payments, restrict long-term care eligibility for those with significant home equity and limit reimbursement to pharmacies.

When lawmakers return from their Thanksgiving recess, negotiators will attempt to iron out the broad differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The Senate measure would reduce net Medicaid spending by $4.3 billion over five years but would also cut $5.7 billion from Medicare.

Big defeat for HHS spending bill

Twenty-two Republicans last month crossed party lines and helped defeat a bill to fund the Health and Human Services Dept. for fiscal 2006.

While reasons behind the opposition to the spending measure varied, several lawmakers complained about the level of proposed cuts to rural health care services. At least one dissenting Republican voted against the bill because a provision to move up by a year the 2007 ban on Medicare coverage of erectile dysfunction drugs would have opened up federal contracts with drug makers to lawsuits.

GOP leadership aides said the House would reconsider its options on the spending bill when Congress returns from its Thanksgiving recess. In the meantime, health care programs under HHS continue to be funded at fiscal year 2005 levels.