Medicare

A proposal to consider covering sex-change operations was quickly withdrawn.

A bipartisan group of Senate Finance Committee members said Thursday that the federal Medicare agency isn't doing enough to prevent overpayments.

The senators pointed to a new Health and Human Services Department report that says Medicare has lost $70 million due to overpayments to companies that supply durable medical equipment — heavy-duty items like hospital beds and wheelchairs.

Most of the $70 million won't be recovered, Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said.

The controversy over proposed Medicare Advantage cuts shows the need for Congress to pass a permanent "doc fix," the American Medical Association said Thursday.

The AMA — the nation's largest lobbying group for doctors — latched on to a letter from Congress's Medicare advisory board that recommended a permanent fix.

The prospects for a permanent solution have brightened somewhat this year, thanks to a big price cut from the Congressional Budget Office. And there is bipartisan support for repealing Medicare's payment formula, if lawmakers can agree on a way to pay for it.

Republican senators on Thursday questioned why the Obama administration hasn't used new fraud-prevention tools in its signature healthcare law.

Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah), Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) pressed the Health and Human Services Department over its new power to place a temporary moratorium on admitting new doctors in areas that are susceptible to Medicare fraud.

Certain types of medicine and certain geographic areas are known as hotbeds for Medicare fraud. The healthcare law gave HHS the power to suspend new doctors and suppliers who pose a high risk of Medicare fraud, but Hatch and Grassley said the department hasn't used that authority.

The federal Medicare agency on Thursday met more bipartisan resistance to its proposed cuts in Medicare Advantage payments.

Lawmakers have written to the agency in droves to protest the cuts — a 2.2 percent reduction in next year's payments, on top of cuts included in President Obama's healthcare law that have not yet taken effect.

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the trade group representing insurance companies, released three more letters Thursday: a bipartisan plea from members of the New York delegation; a letter from the entire Massachusetts delegation; and a third letter from six House Democrats.

FreedomWorks, the prominent Tea Party group, is hitting the Obama administration for looming cuts to Medicare Advantage.

The group released an online ad Wednesday charging that the cuts will force between 2 and 5 million seniors to lose their private Medicare coverage, placing them back in the traditional program.

The ad blames "ObamaCare," which made billions in cuts to Medicare Advantage by changing the program's payment formulas. 

Lawmakers are seeing a flood of opposition to the Obama administration's proposed cut to Medicare Advantage, the health insurance industry said Monday.

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) reported that more than 40,000 seniors have called, written or met with their congressional offices to oppose the reductions.

The reported backlash comes as AHIP continues its own assault on the proposed 2.2 percent payment cut set to hit next year, the latest in a series of reductions to Medicare Advantage.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) heaped criticism Wednesday on Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for the cuts that his budget makes to programs for the poor and warned Senate Democrats not to follow the same path.

In twin letters sent to the House and Senate, the bishops said they “support the goal of reducing future unsustainable deficits, but insist that this worthy goal be pursued in ways that protect poor and vulnerable people at home and abroad.”

The bishops blasted the Ryan budget as failing to meet certain “moral criteria” by disproportionately cutting programs like food stamps that “serve poor and vulnerable people.”

A debt-ceiling hike could be a "catalyst" for a deal, but the Senate majority whip isn't terribly optimistic.

The House is scheduled to vote Wednesday on competing budget proposals, setting up a protracted debate over Medicare and other entitlement programs. The House will vote on several alternative budgets as it moves toward a vote on Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) controversial proposal — including a more conservative GOP proposal that borrows Ryan's Medicare plan but implements it more quickly.

The battle lines were already clear as lawmakers debated a procedural motion allowing them to move on to the budget votes.

"The majority has made clear that their vision for America is a vision that says the nation can no longer care for our seniors, that we must halt vital scientific research, and that we should let our bridges and schools crumble because we cannot afford to invest in the future," Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) said.

The House will also vote on a Democratic budget that doesn't include any entitlement cuts, but instead aims to reduce the deficit mostly with new taxes. 

Meanwhile, Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), are stepping up their calls for President Obama to join them in pursuing uncontroversial entitlement reforms. The new push on entitlements comes as the Senate gets closer to its own budget votes — Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday threatened to keep members in town over the weekend if they can't come to an agreement earlier.