WASHINGTON (AP) – A bipartisan $214 billion measure permanently blocking deep cuts in doctors’ Medicare fees is ready to sail through the House. The bill’s Senate prospects are brightening but remain murky.
The House seems set to approve the legislation Thursday. That would shift the focus to the Senate, where Democratic complaints are waning about the bill’s abortion restrictions and added money for children and low-income people that they want extended even further.
Time is a factor. Congress plans to leave town by week’s end for a spring break. Physicians treating Medicare patients face a 21 percent fee cut on April 1 unless lawmakers act.
Both parties are eager to repeal a 1997 law that has threatened deep cuts in physician reimbursements that Congress has blocked 17 times since 2002.