By Jonathan D. Salant
Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- New York SenatorCharles Schumer defended the special Medicaid payments that Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska obtained for his state before agreeing to support health-care legislation, saying all states got something in the measure.
“Every state has its own unique situations,” Schumer said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. “That’s why we have a Senate.”
The Senate is scheduled tomorrow to vote on an $871 billion measure that would extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans. Lawmakers will then face the challenge of melding the Senate bill with legislation passed in the House on Nov. 7.
The Medicaid deal hasn’t been well received in some corners. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called the agreements “backroom deals that amount to bribes.”
New York Governor David Paterson said today the Senate legislation would cost the state more than $1 billion a year in lost Medicaid reimbursements. “It’s not fair,” he said at a news conference at his Manhattan office.
Since Medicaid reimbursement is based on a state’s per capita income rather than its poverty level, the federal government reimburses New York for half its expenses while paying as much as 80 percent of those of other states, Paterson said.
Benefits for State
The legislation does benefit New York in certain ways, Schumer said, such as providing funds to the state’s teaching hospitals and exempting certain Medicare Advantage programs where payments go to patients rather than insurance companies.
“Every state got something,” Schumer said.
He said he would fight for provisions in the House version of the health-care legislation that are more favorable to New York.
Asked about reports that Nelson is considering giving up the benefits he landed for Nebraska because he has received criticism, he said his colleague “laid out his principles and stuck to them.”
Because the Senate will need 60 votes to enact the final legislation following negotiations, “there are constraints” on how many concessions can be made to the House, Schumer said.
It isn’t unusual for congressional leaders to make deals with reluctant lawmakers. Then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, was admonished by the House ethics committee in September 2004 for offering to endorse the congressional candidacy of the son of retiring Republican Representative Nick Smith of Michigan if Smith would vote for a $395 billion Medicare prescription-drug program in 2003. Smith voted no.
When the measure moved to the Senate, then-Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, criticized the Democrats’ “procedural tricks” that delayed a final vote.
This time around, the Republicans are in the minority and their tactics, such as requiring legislation to be read in its entirety, forced the Senate to postpone a final vote on the health-care legislation until Christmas Eve.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington atjsalant@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: December 23, 2009 16:18 EST
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment