Friday, December 15, 2000

(Washington, D.C.)--The Texas Medical Center and Texas families are set to benefit from a year-end budget package that will complete the funding of all government departments and channel billions of additional dollars to hospitals, schools and medical research centers, announced Congressman Ken Bentsen (TX-25).

The $108.9 billion bill funding the Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services departments will likely pass today in both houses. "A compromise deal has been struck between Congress and the White House, and this lame-duck session of the 106th Congress can finally adjourn with a continued commitment to the nation's priorities such as medical research and education," Congressman Bentsen said.

Congressman Bentsen's district, home of the Texas Medical Center, has several hospitals that would benefit from the increases in funding for medical research, medical education funding, and Medicare and Medicaid payments that are sprinkled throughout the bill. These hospitals include St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, the Harris County Hospital District, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Memorial Hermann Hospital.

"This agreement is an important step toward ensuring that our nation continues to support its teaching hospitals in this era of managed health care," Congressman Bentsen said. "It will ensure stable, guaranteed funding to train future doctors and other health care professionals, conduct vital clinical research, and ensure that patients receive better and more consistent health care."

Congressman Bentsen sponsored or cosponsored several of the health provisions included in the complex ominibus appropriations bill, which increases the Medicare and Medicaid payments to health care providers by more than $30 billion over the next five years.

This bill encompasses legislation introduced by Congressman Bentsen, (H.R. 1298), that would help boost enrollment of Texas children in Medicaid, the federal/state health coverage program for the poor. Bentsen's measure would allow counselors in schools, homeless shelters, and housing program agencies to enroll children in Medicaid, the federal/state health coverage program for the poor. Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice criticized the state's cumbersome requirements that discourage families from signing up for Medicaid.

"Texas has had a Studebaker system in the age of information, contributing to an inadequate and inefficient Medicaid notification and enrollment program," Congressman Bentsen said. "Nearly 800,000 children in Texas are eligible to receive health benefits under Medicaid but are not enrolled."

"To paraphrase Willie Sutton's response when asked why he robbed banks: The schools are where the kids are," Congressman Bentsen said. "By allowing schools and homeless shelters to preliminarily enroll low-income kids in Medicaid, these children could begin receiving health-care services while the state reviews their cases and makes the final determintion of Medicaid eligibility."

The sprawling budget deal also includes the following health measures fought for and/or cosponsored by Congressman Bentsen:

--$18.4 billion over ten years in Medicare reimbursements for Medicare managed care plans. Just this week, Congressman Bentsen sponsored a Town Hall in Houston to inform seniors of their health care options in the wake of the massive Medicare HMO withdrawal from Texas on January 1st. This critical funding will establish two minimum floor payments of $475 per person for rural areas and $525 for urban areas to help ensure that Medicare beneficiaries will continue to have health care options.

--(H.Res. 437) that would add $2.7 billion to the NIH budget to increase it to $20.2 billion this year, the third installment towards doubling the NIH's budget over five years. "As Co-Chair of the Congressional Biomedical Caucus and as a Member who represents the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical center in the world, ensuring this NIH funding is one of my highest priorities," Congressman Bentsen said.

--legislation to ensure adequate compensations for our nation's teaching hospitals, which includes the following three Medicare provisions, (saving hospitals $10.7 billion over ten years): 1) increasing the Medicare reimbursements for Indirect Medical Education (IME) payments to restore $600 million for teaching hospitals by ensuring an average IME payment of 6.5% for FY 2001, 6.375% for FY 2002, and 5.5%for 2003; 2) ensuring higher Medicare reimbursements for Medicare disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) to save them $100 million over ten years; 3) Ensuring the annual inflation update for hospital payments is fair and reasonable by providing a full market basket update for hospitals in FY 2001. In FY 2002 and FY 2003, this PPS update will be MBI minus .55%. These provisions, (similar to legislation, H.R. 3576 and H.R. 3580, Congressman Bentsen cosponsored), will save hospitals $9.5 billion over ten years.

--legislation (H.R. 1579), that Congressman Bentsen cosposored, that guarantees graduate medical education funding for independent children's hospitals, such as Texas Children's Hospital. The bill provides $235 million in for pediatric GME funding for FY 2001.

--Two Medicaid provisions which will save hospitals $7.2 billion over ten years, are: 1) an increase in Medicaid DSH payments (similar to legislation, H.R. 3698 and H.R. 3710, that Congressman Bentsen cosponsored); 2) a provision, (similar to legislation, H.R. 4393, that Congressman Bentsen cosponsored) ensuring that Texas has two extra years to use its (S-CHIP) -- State-Children's Health Insurance Program -- allotment so that Texas will be able to spend its $446 million of dedicated federal funds for this important program.

--legislation (H.R. 353) to help patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease. This provision would help ensure Medicare elgibility ALS patients, who usually do not live long enough to qualify as disabled under the Medicare program. This provision would require the Institute of Medicine to conduct a study on waving this 24-month waiting period before eligibility for the Medicare program.

--More benefits for Medicare benficiaries, including: 1) lifetime coverage of immunosuppressive drugs (similar to legislation, H.R. 1115 that Congressman Bentsen has cosponsored); 2) increased reimbursements for mammograms by eliminating the current prescribed payment amount and specifying that these services would be paid under the physician fee schedule effective in FY 2002 and also providing coverage for new digital technology mammograms which provide more accurate prognoses for patients. These digital mammograms would receive 150% of rates paid for bilateral screenings (similar to legislation, H.R. 5172, that Congressman Bentsen cosponsored); 3) coverage of colon cancer tests for all Medicare benficiaries; 4) coverage for medical nutrition therapy services for beneficiaries with diabetes or renal disease (similar to legislation, H.R. 1187, that Congressman Bentsen cosponsored); 5) reductions in the beneficiary copayments for hospial outpatient services,; and 5) coverage for glaucoma screenings for high-risk individuals.

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