Groups Fume That Medicare Cuts May Pay for Trade Bill

[eridani]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/health-care/outside-groups-fume-that-medicare-cuts-may-pay-for-trade-bill-20150421

April 21, 2015 Senior and provider groups are angry that Medicare cuts will help pay for one of the trade bills that Congress will soon consider and are waging a last-ditch effort to nix the cuts.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance reauthorization bill hasn't received as much attention as the fast-track trade authority bill, but Democrats see it as a priority: The program helps workers who have been put out of a job because of foreign trade with job-training and placement as well as health-insurance costs. The House and Senate are expected to move the bill in tandem with the fast-track trade measure, said an aide to Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, who hashed out the trade deal with Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Paul Ryan, both Republicans.

But on Tuesday, senior and provider groups started criticizing the proposal. They're unhappy because about $700 million of the $2.9 billion cost would be offset by increasing the cuts to Medicare authorized by the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration in fiscal year 2024 by 0.25 percent, according to a Congressional Budget Office score of the House bill.

"Apparently using Medicare as a piggy bank to pay for everything under the sun has become the new legislative norm for Congress," Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in a statement to National Journal. "Rather than balancing priorities or considering a penny of new revenue, congressional leaders are proposing to once again funnel Medicare resources into unrelated programs and fixes—this time it's the trade adjustment assistance program."

A coalition of provider groups, including the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association, sent a letter to senators Tuesday opposing the bill.

[Doctor_J]

1. see, the president's giving them enough rope to hang themselves

He's twelve moves ahead of them, and the smartest guy in the room. A white president would not have to endure this resistance. And, ummmm...I think I forgot an excuse or two

[cali]

2. jaysus, it just gets ever worse

I suppose the AHA, the AMA and the committee to preserve social security and Medicare are relegated to being lying, obstructing show boaters now

[Octafish]

3. Gosh. If the AHA and AMA are against the thing...

...something is seriously wrong with TPP.

And Wyden. (Feedback sound) "Testing 1-2-3. Sound check. Agent Mike! Can you read me now. Testing 1-2-3-4."

[TeeYiYi]

4. k+r ...nt

TYY