Raise Your Voice to Support for Rural Payments Increase in Comprehensive Medicare Prescription Drug Legislation!

Please Call, Fax or E-mail Your Members of Congress and Conferees in the Joint Senate-House Conference Committee

10/21/2003

The Medicare Prescription Drug legislation, one of the most significant domestic issues remaining before Congress this year, is now intended to set at least $25 billion more in rural health care spending for doctors, hospitals and other medical services. According to yesterday's Washington Post, key lawmakers in both parties, along with President Bush, support higher rural payments by Medicare and this idea has caught on even as Congress is having difficulty finding the means to subsidize drug coverage to the level that many elderly people want. Now the legislation is pending in the Joint House-Senate Conference Committee.

The House and Senate bills would promise $25 to $28 billion in the next decade to be spent for rural payments. However, House and Senate negotiators still need to compromise their slightly different positions on generating funds for rural payments to form their final Medicare legislation. Under the House version, that money would come at the expense of other parts of the Medicare system. The Senate, instead, would try to reduce overpayments for drugs that Medicare pays when patients are hospitalized; freeze part of the program's subsidies for medical training; and add fees for lab tests. But the Post says such distinctions between the bills are nearly drowned out by the broad enthusiasm for increasing rural payments.

Medicare often pays comparatively low rates in rural states and it is certainly unfair that working Americans nationwide contribute the same amount in Medicare payroll taxes but that health care providers in urban areas tend to get higher government reimbursements for the elderly patients they treat. Now the proposed "rural equity" provisions in Medicare legislation for increase of Medicare payments to rural areas would indicate the largest improvement in rural health care spending in the Medicare's recent history. Since both Congress and White House support this project and in the mean time they try to attract rural citizens for some political reasons with this issue now could be a perfect timing to have the provisions incorporated in Medicare legislation.

For your reference:

National Grange 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug Bill Side-by Side Comparison
National Grange Action Alert 10/07/03: Urge Congress to Pass Medicare Prescription Drug Bill This Year!

The National Grange's policy on the rural equity in health care is as follows:

• The National Grange supports repealing regulatory barriers that rural health care facilities face when they seek equitable reimbursement for treatments provided under federal health care programs, such as Medicare.
• The National Grange urges Congress to require Medicare to make timely payments to both acute care and extended care facilities to insure that the correct level of care is maintained for all patients.

Action Plan --- Please call, fax or e-mail your members of Congress and Conferees in the Joint Senate-House Conference Committee for Medicare legislation to express your strong support for rural payments increase provisions right now!

Contact information for U.S. House Representative
Contact information for U.S. Senators

House Conferees
Rep. Bill Thomas California R-22 nd: Rep. Thomas is the chairman of the Medicare conference and voted for the House Medicare bill.
Rep. Tom DeLay Texas R-22 nd: Rep. DeLay is the House majority leader and voted for the House Medicare bill.
Rep. Nancy Johnson Connecticut R-5 th: Rep. Johnson voted for the House Medicare bill.
Rep. Billy Tauzin Louisiana R-3 rd: Rep. Tauzin voted for the House Medicare bill.
Rep. Michael Bilirakis Florida R-9 th: Rep. Bilirakis voted for the House Medicare bill.
Rep. Charles Rangel New York D- 15 th: Rep. Rangel voted against the House bill.
Rep. John Dingell Michigan D-15 th: Rep. Dingell voted against the House bill.
Rep. Marion Berry Arkansas D-1 st: Rep. Berry voted against the House bill.

Senate Conferees
Senator Charles Grassley Iowa R: Sen. Grassley is one of the main architects of the Senate bill, which he voted for.
Senator Bill Frist Tennessee R: Sen. Frist voted for the Senate bill.
Senator Orrin Hatch Utah R: Sen. Hatch voted for the Senate bill.
Senator Tom Daschle South Dakota D: Sen. Daschle voted for the Senate bill.
Senator Max Baucus Montana D: Sen. Baucus voted for the Senate bill.
Senator John Breaux Louisiana D: Sen. Breaux voted for the Senate bill.
Senator Don Nickles Oklahoma R: Sen. Nickles voted against the Senate bill.
Senator Jon Kyl Arizona R: Sen. Kyl voted for the Senate bill.
Senator Jay Rockefeller West Virginia D: Sen. Rockefeller voted against the Senate bill.

If you have any questions or comments please contact Legislative Research Analyst Chil-Sook Hwang by fax: 202-347-1091 or by phone: 1-888-4GRANGE, ext 109. Thank you for your grassroots participation in the National Grange Legislative program.

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