House Passes Bill To Avoid Medicare Cuts

WASHINGTON — In a matter of days the federal government is scheduled to start paying doctors 10.6% less when they treat Medicare patients.

With that in mind, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation yesterday that would void the cut and pay for it by trimming payments to private health insurers.

The legislation passed 355-59 despite a veto threat by President Bush and protests from the insurance industry. It had broad support from doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists. A vote against the measure would have risked alienating those important constituencies just as lawmakers get ready to break for the July 4 recess.

Now, the job of avoiding a pay cut for doctors falls to the Senate, where lawmakers were working behind the scenes yesterday to craft a compromise that would gain the administration's support or generate enough votes to overcome a veto.

Some 600,000 doctors care for Medicare patients. Payment rates are set to drop by 10.6% on July 1 as a result of a formula that calls for cuts when spending exceeds established goals. Avoiding the cuts has become an annual event for Congress, but finding the money invariably requires trimming payments to other health care providers.