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Ways and Means Committee Releases Draft of President’s Proposals to Strengthen Medicare

August 2, 2013 — Press Releases   

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Ways and Means Committee released draft legislation of the President’s proposals to strengthen Medicare.  This follows several hearings in the Health Subcommittee on bipartisan proposals to secure the future of the program.  The draft legislative text can be found at www.waysandmeans.house.gov/entitlementreform. 

The latest legislative proposals mirror proposals on post-acute care (PAC) that were put forth by President Obama in his FY2014 Budget as well as discussions by Simpson-Bowles and the Bipartisan Policy Commission.  The draft specifically addresses the following changes to PAC:

  1. Reducing market basket updates for home health agencies (HHAs), skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) and long-term care hospitals (LTCHs); 
  2. Creating site neutral payments between IRFs and SNFs for certain procedures; 
  3. Modifying the criteria required for IRF status (the so-called “75 percent rule”); 
  4. Establishing a SNF readmissions program; and 
  5. Creating PAC bundled payments. 

The public is encouraged to submit comments to any of the draft legislative proposals by email at entitlementreform@mail.house.gov by the due date listed for each proposal.  You can view the proposals, fact sheets, summaries and draft legislative text at www.waysandmeans.house.gov/entitlementreform.

Background: 
In April, the Ways and Means Committee announced a bipartisan hearing series on entitlement reform.  As part of that series, the Committee is reviewing a variety of proposals to protect and preserve Medicare and Social Security that have been identified by President Obama – either in his budget or in other recommendations to Congress.  The Committee is also reviewing bipartisan ideas for entitlement reform from the President’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (known as the “Simpson-Bowles Commission”) and the Bipartisan Policy Center Debt Reduction Task Force (known as the “Domenici-Rivlin Task Force”).  

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SUBCOMMITTEE: Health    SUBCOMMITTEE: Full Committee