FEINGOLD WORKS TO KEEP
MEDICARE EQUITY PROVISIONS
Washington, D.C. -- U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, one of the main leaders in the fight for Medicare fairness, sent a letter July 15, 2003 to the conferees working on reconciling the House and Senate versions of the prescription drug bill (H.R. 1 and S. 1) recently passed by each house. Feingold urged them to keep the Medicare equity provisions contained in the Senate version of the bill in the final conference report.
"Striking regional inequities exist within the Medicare reimbursement system," according to Feingold.
"Medicare is a universal program, yet does not provide equal benefits to all beneficiaries. All Americans pay the same Medicare payroll taxes, yet Medicare beneficiaries living in states such as Wisconsin get a lot less in return. While two individuals with identical work histories will pay the same amount in payroll taxes into the Medicare program, they can receive far different levels of benefits from Medicare depending upon where they live."
A Feingold amendment that passed in the Budget Committee earlier this year helped make the inclusion of Medicare fairness provisions in S.1 possible. Feingold reintroduced his Medicare fairness legislation on the first day of this Congress with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). Like the Feingold/Collins legislation, the provisions included in S.1 will reform the current Medicare reimbursement system by reducing regional inequities in Medicare reimbursement rates.
"I am pleased that the amendment I authored in the Budget Committee paved the way for these Medicare equity provisions to be included in S. 1," Feingold said.
"For years we have been getting the short end of the stick on Medicare payments, and this bill will mean more than $250 million in Medicare dollars for Wisconsin over the next ten years. This is not a partisan issue -- it deals entirely with fairness in the distribution of Medicare dollars. I strongly urge the conferees to keep these provisions in the final bill."
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