Monday, July 14, 2003
Mmmm . . . pork . . .
Congress's $400 billion Medicare prescription drug bill, advertised as a way to help elderly Americans pay for their medicine, has become a magnet for dozens of unrelated provisions benefiting hospitals, doctors, medical equipment companies and an array of other health care interests.
Tucked into the small print of the 1,043-page Senate version, for example, is a "demonstration project" allowing selected chiropractors to bill Medicare for many services not now covered. If the experiment shows that chiropractors can save money for Medicare by steering patients away from costlier services, it could be instituted nationwide.
Other provisions -- many of them dropped into the legislation in the small hours of June 27, just before Senate passage -- would benefit marriage counselors, the weight-management industry, rural ambulance services, Hawaii's Medicaid program and doctors in Alaska.
. . . Proposed changes in the basic Medicare program now consume about 200 pages in the Senate bill, one-fifth of the total. Preliminary estimates suggest the special provisions will add tens of billions of dollars to the legislation's cost, although Republicans say the bills also contain offsetting savings.
Bacon, sausage, ham . . .
posted by chris at 11:12 AM
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