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Congressional Testimony
July 25, 2000, Tuesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1027 words
COMMITTEE:
HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS
SUBCOMMITTEE:
HEALTH
HEADLINE: TESTIMONY IMPACT OF BALANCED BUDGET
ACT ON MEDICARE
TESTIMONY-BY: WILLIAM M. THOMAS ,
REPRESENTATIVE
BODY:
Opening Statement of the
Honorable William M. Thomas, M.C., California, Chairman, Subcommittee on Health
Hearing on Additional Medicare Refinements to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997
July 25, 2000 Almost three years ago, Congress passed the Balanced Budget Act of
1997, which made Medicare payment and benefit reforms unseen since the inception
of the program. This landmark legislation has strengthened Medicare
substantially. It expanded coverage of preventive benefits for seniors,
including pap smear tests and colorectal cancer screenings. It injected
much-needed, new flexibility for seniors' different health care preferences by
creating the Medicare+Choice program. It provided new tools to combat health
care waste, fraud and abuse that resulted in savings to the program and helped
improve its efficiency. Finally, the BBA adjusted payments to providers and
introduced reforms in fee-for-service, such as prospective payment systems, that
have resulted in more accurate payments and have contributed to the extended
solvency of the Part A Trust fund. When we formulated and enacted the BBA,
Congress relied on the data and estimates available at the time. The Health Care
Financing Administration (HCFA) has implemented most of the more than 300
changes to Medicare that the law required. In some cases, HCFA has missed
deadlines for implementation, or has developed policies that need refinement.
Last year, Congress recognized that such sweeping changes in payment policy
often require some degree of fine-tuning. In response to HCFA's delays and
implementation problems and financial data on the BBA's impact on providers,
Congress passed the Balanced Budget Refinement Act (BBRA) which restored $16
billion to hospitals, nursing homes, home health, Medicare+Choice, and rural
health. Perhaps most important, though, the BBRA contained provisions that
directly addressed the needs of seniors: limiting the outpatient hospital
copayment, increasing payments for pap smears,
and extending benefits for immunosuppressive drugs. It is worth noting that much
of the BBRA's relief for providers- $10 billion of the $16 billion-is not
scheduled to be paid to providers until FY 2001 and FY 2002. Those asking for
additional relief should keep in mind this important fact. As Congress evaluates
the need for further refinements this Fall, we will be factoring in the BBRA
payment schedule of funds that providers have yet to receive. That said, early
this year, I made the point that the Subcommittee would monitor the continued
impact of the BBA on all types of providers. We are willing to consider limited
changes to the BBA to address the remaining unanticipated or unintended
consequences stemining from this historic legislation. If refinements are
necessary, I am hopeful that bipartisan consensus can be achieved and that a
cooperative working environment between the Congress and the Administration will
prevail, as it has in the past on these matters. I am pleased that HCFA is here
to provide a progress report on BBA implementation and technical assistance on
Medicare payment areas that need further improvement. Additionally, we will hear
from people who deliver health services in all parts of the country. I look
forward to a productive dialogue on what specific additional refinements are
needed to improve the payment structures in the Medicare program.
LOAD-DATE: August 10, 2000, Thursday
