Healthcare groups object to Medicare cuts in trade bill

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/239572-healthcare-groups-object-to-medicare-cuts-in-trade-bill

By Peter Sullivan - 04/21/15

Leading healthcare provider groups are objecting to Medicare cuts being used to help pay for a new House Republican trade bill.

The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) bill helps workers displaced by trade and provides a tax credit to help pay for health insurance. It was rolled out in addition to a proposal to give President Obama “fast-track” authority on trade.

The healthcare providers object to the TAA bill including a 0.25 percent cut in Medicare payments in fiscal year 2024, which amounts to a $700 million cut, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The move adds to the 2 percent cut that came as part of the sequester passed in 2011.

“Hospitals, physicians, nursing homes and home health and hospice providers have already absorbed hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to the Medicare program in recent years,” says a letter to lawmakers Tuesday from the provider groups. “Additionally alarming is the use of Medicare cuts to pay for non-Medicare related legislation, a precedent that we believe is unwise.”

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