The White House has expressed its intent to veto H.R. 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. Should the President follow through on the veto threat, the bill must go back to Congress and pass both the House and Senate one more time. Senate Republican Leadership will no doubt put pressure on those Republicans that voted in favor of the bill.
Please contact your Senators and request that they vote yes, should a vote to override a presidential veto be necessary. In less than 5 minutes, ASHA's Take Action Center will help you send an editable message based on your Senators' earlier vote on H.R. 6331.
The President has up to 10 days to either sign or veto the bill. The legislation passed the Senate 69-30 and passed the House by an overwhelming bi-partisan vote of 355-59. The Medicare legislation that passed Congress would:
- Halt the current 10.6% reduction in Medicare payments for the remainder of 2008 and increase reimbursement rates by 1.1% for 2009;
- Extend the therapy cap exceptions process through December 2009;
- Permit speech-language pathologists in private practice to bill Medicare beginning July 2009; and
- Allow audiologists to participate in the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI).
For further information, please contact Ingrida Lusis, ASHA's Director of Federal and Political Advocacy, at ilusis@asha.org or by phone at 202-624-5951.
|