House GOP Survives Spending Bill Debate | Dem’s Obamacare Off The Tracks For Primary Care Doctors

Today in Washington, D.C. - Dec. 11, 2014
The House reconvened at 9 AM today As of this report, the House today has passed the following bills by Voice Vote:
S. 2519 — "To codify an existing operations center for cybersecurity."
H.R. 5742 — "To provide to the Secretary of the Interior a mechanism to cancel contracts for the sale of materials CA-20139 and CA-22901, and for other purposes."
Senate amendment to H.R. 4007 (Voice Vote)
Senate amendments to H.R. 2952 (Voice Vote)

The following bill failed: H.R. 5806 (275-149 / Required 2/3 vote) — "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify and make permanent certain expiring provisions related to charitable contributions." Even though 47 Democrats voted with Republicans, 149 Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi voted against the bill. Democrats love higher taxes and opposed making permanent expiring charitable contributions.

Bill under consideration: H.R. 83 - To require the Secretary of the Interior to assemble a team of technical, policy, and financial experts to address the energy needs of the insular areas of the United States and the Freely Associated States through the development of energy action plans aimed at promoting access to affordable, reliable energy, including increasing use of indigenous clean-energy resources, and for other purposes; waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules; and for other purposes."

The Washington Times reports that "The $1.1 trillion spending bill narrowly survived its first test Thursday when the House approved rules for debate, bringing the bill to the floor and setting up an afternoon showdown that will expose just how deep the divisions run within the Democratic Party. Senate Democrats were pleading for the bill’s passage, saying it was the best deal possible in divided government, but a House Democratic leader said the bill was so bad it would “fundamentally change our republic” because it altered campaign finance laws and made changes to how banks can trade derivatives. . . . Republicans said they wrote the compromise with Senate Democrats, and said if it didn’t pass, Democrats would be sending the government toward its second shutdown in 15 months."

With regard to stopping the Obama Amnesty,WT added, "Conservative Republicans argue the spending bill doesn’t cut President Obama’s priorities enough, and it also doesn’t immediately halt the president’s new deportation amnesty. GOP leaders said they’ll have a chance to fight the amnesty early next year."

The Senate reconvened at 9:30 AM today and resumed consideration of the motion to concur in the House amendment to H.R. 3979, the Fiscal Year 2015 Defense Authorization bill.

At 10:30, the Senate voted 85-14 to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the House amendment to H.R. 3979. Votes are possible later today on final passage of the Defense authorization bill, on a bill to fund the government through the 2015 fiscal year, on terrorism risk insurance, and on a package extending popular tax credits.

The AP reports today, “Primary care doctors caring for low-income patients will face steep fee cuts next year as a temporary program in President Barack Obama's health care law expires. That could squeeze access just when millions of new patients are gaining Medicaid coverage.

“A study Wednesday from the nonpartisan Urban Institute estimated fee reductions will average about 40 percent nationwide. But they could reach 50 percent or more for primary care doctors in California, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois — big states that have all expanded Medicaid under the health law.

“Meager pay for doctors has been a persistent problem for Medicaid, the safety-net health insurance program. Low-income people unable to find a family doctor instead flock to hospital emergency rooms, where treatment is more expensive and not usually focused on prevention. . . .

“Doctors probably won't dump their current Medicaid patients, but they'll take a hard look at accepting new ones, said Dr. Robert Wergin, a practitioner in rural Milford, Neb., and president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. ‘You are going to be paid less, so you are going to have to look at your practice and find ways to eke it out,’ Wergin said.”

Once again, a poorly designed provision in Obama’s unpopular health care law is causing problems with patients getting access to care and with doctors getting compensated for their services.

On top of that, the AP writes, “Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell says expanding Medicaid in the remaining 23 states is one of her top priorities. But the fee cut could make that an even harder sell, since it may reinforce a perception that the federal government creates expensive new benefits only to pass the bill to states. In Pennsylvania, where the Medicaid expansion will take effect Jan. 1, doctors are facing a 52 percent fee reduction, according to the Urban Institute study. The fee boost has cost federal taxpayers at least $5.6 billion so far, but Stephen Zuckerman, one of the study's authors, said it's not clear whether access actually improved.”

In other words, Obamacare spent a lot of money and it’s unclear whether the goal set by the law was even achieved.

This news comes on the heels of a report in The New York Times that “[l]arge numbers of doctors who are listed as serving Medicaid patients are not available to treat them . . . .” The Times wrote, “Many of the doctors were not accepting new Medicaid patients or could not be found at their last known addresses, according to the report from the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. The study raises questions about access to care for people gaining Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.”

While Democrats who champion Obamacare have been declaring the importance of expanding Medicaid, reporting suggests that it may not be getting people access to health care. And as demand for doctors’ services is rising, their compensation is falling, meaning fewer doctors for more patients. It was on Monday that another AP story found that “nearly 1 in 5 Americans lives in a region designated as having a shortage of primary care physicians, and the number of doctors entering the field isn't expected to keep pace with demand.”

This is yet another example of the bad incentives and ill-conceived regulations created by Obamacare which exacerbate existing problems in the American health care system, while disrupting much of the rest of it, even the parts people were happy with.

This flawed, unpopular law needs to be repealed and replaced.

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