Democratic senators would oppose a potential House bipartisan deal preventing cuts in physicians' Medicare payments if it doesn't finance a children's health program for four years, senior Senate Democratic aides said Sunday.
The aides issued the threat as House bargainers try preventing a 21 percent reduction in doctors' Medicare reimbursements scheduled for April 1. Negotiators want to craft an agreement annulling a 1997 formula that annually threatens deep cuts in those payments.
For all the handwringing about what the new Republican-controlled Congress could to do Obamacare, another health insurance program could be dropped entirely if lawmakers don't take action this year: the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Legislative action appears unlikely on the Children's Health Insurance Program during Congress' current lame duck session, despite ongoing pleas from advocates that federal funding for the program be extended as quickly as possible.
“I don't think we expect any movement on this before the end of the year,” said Andrew Wimer, spokesman for Rep. Joe Pitts, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health.
